Love & War
by centerfield
Summary: 'Nothing's the same anymore.' A chance encounter with a falling trunk on the Hogwarts Express brings Harry and Cedric Diggory together and, against all odds, they start a relationship. But romance is not the only thing on Harry's mind, someone is playing a dangerous game and the only "the man in the white hat" seems to understand the rules. Slash, AU.
1. Prologue - Nightfall

**Author notes - **A new fanfic involving Harry and Cedric, and some other stuff that may or may not be related. Please read and review, there is plenty more to come.

**Rating** - PG

**Note** - I do not own the Harry Potter universe or the characters involved, that privilege belongs to J. K. Rowling.

**PROLOGUE**

_Nightfall_

The leaves on the giant oak trees that surrounded the entrance to Hogwarts School were beginning to fall. A patchwork of colours was descending from the sky and landing gracefully, covering the soft ground with vibrant shades of yellow, orange and brown. It was October; and as such there was a sense of change in the air; there was a hint of darker and colder days to come. Night was falling rapidly, and the castle was bathed in the sharp glow of the full moonlight.

A small silvery cat sat silently under one of the trees, watching intently out at the vast grounds of the castle. There was no one about; the distinct chill in the air meant the grounds remained largely undisturbed by human contact. This particular cat, a regular visitor, would normally spend this time exploring and hunting but today it remained absolutely still, waiting. Waiting for what, it was not certain, but the expectation that something important was about to occur remained, and so the cat waited.

The vast clock tower that was affixed to the castle ticked away the seconds and minutes as the moon rose higher into the sky. The leaves continued to fall, and the cat continued to wait. And then, just as the chimes of the clock began to signal the hour, a figure appeared on the edge of the Forest. The cat sprang to its feet and moved to investigate, keeping its keen eyes on the new comer at all times. It could see clearly now that the figure was a man; the very man indeed it had been expecting to see.

The leaves crunched underfoot as the stranger walked purposefully towards the castle. Spotting the cat watching him, he allowed himself a small smile before bending down and reaching out his hand. The animal instinctively moved forward and sniffed his fingers, before allowing him to lightly stroke it behind the ears.

'Yes,' he muttered, as the cat purred gently, 'I knew that you would you recognise me. I promised I'd come back.'

He straightened up stiffly and moved on. After having moved a few steps, he turned back and said, 'Go on.' He gazed into the cat's eyes for a moment, before setting off towards the castle once more. The cat watched him momentarily as he disappeared through the large double doors and then it turned and fled towards the forest. Although evolution had not blessed the animal with any semblance of logic and reasoning, the cat somehow knew that Hogwarts was no longer a safe place to be.

The man, who rather enigmatically preferred to be known as Smith, moved stealthily through the castle, not wishing to alert any of the residents to his presence. Although he doubted that anyone would truly object to his being there, he preferred to have some privacy to carry out his work, and a horde of curious students asking pointless questions was not exactly conducive with accomplishment. It was in this vain that he carefully avoided a patrolling teacher who was making her way towards the Great Hall. Dodging out of sight, Smith waited silently until she had passed, before re-emerging and proceeding through a set of double doors that led to the Grand Staircase. As he did so he felt a slightly sense of satisfaction, all the effort that had gone into designing the castle's defences and he had just walked through them like an ordinary door.

Once onto the staircase, he moved upwards until he reached the corridor that led to the Second Floor. It was here that he came face to face with the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the Headmaster's office. The creature glared at him as he approached, waiting for the password.

Smith cleared his throat and said authoritatively, 'Open up, it's me.' The gargoyle surveyed him for a moment before leaping to one side and allowing him access. He began to ascend the golden spiral staircase that lay beyond but as he reached the third step the gargoyle muttered, 'He's not there, you know.'

'I know that. It's not him I'm after, I just need to use his office,' replied Smith, and he resumed climbing the stairs.

Dumbledore's office looked much as Smith remembered it. The shining silver instruments whirred merrily to themselves, and the Headmaster's red-gold phoenix was singing contently, perched in his usual position, watching Smith with a slight air of curiosity but nothing more. The only missing element was Dumbledore himself, and this suited the strange man just fine. He did not wish to divulge his presence to his old friend just yet, he still needed more time. Ironic, he thought to himself, when time was the very thing he was running out of.

He moved stealthily across the office and sat down in a comfortable looking chair. Almost immediately he was on his feet, moving across to the other side of the desk to closely examine an ornate chess set. Clearly, Dumbledore was indulging in one of his favourite hobbies again.

'You're going to lose if you keep playing like that Albus,' he muttered to himself. 'Mate in...eight moves I believe. It would better if you did this.' He moved one of the bishops three squares, putting the opposing queen in potential danger. 'But then who am I to interfere with your game,' he added, returning the bishop to its original position, 'I've only beaten you four times out of four.'

He sighed slightly, and then remembering why he was there, he moved over to the fireplace. He removed three scraps of paper from his pocket. Seizing a handful of floo powder, he threw it and the fragments of writing into the fire. Satisfied that they were going to their intended destination, he turned to leave the office. He wanted to leave the castle as soon as possible, to avoid possible detection, but there was still one more task to be completed.

* * *

Professor Sybil Trelawney could not sleep. No matter how much she tossed and turned her mind was too troubled for her to relax completely. Therefore, instead of remaining in her chamber and uselessly attempting to combat this insomnia, she had decided to return to her classroom and see what portents she could discern from her silvery crystal ball. As had been the case for the last several nights, the secrets of the future remained frustratingly out of her reach. The ball remained obstinately blank, and this did nothing to cure her of her troubled thoughts. She had seen more than she wished recently; a lightning-struck tower, a blazing inferno, and a cold and twisted abomination.

'Hello Sybil,' said a voice from the corner of the room.

Professor Trelawney jumped and uttered a soft scream. 'Who's there? How did you gain access to my classroom?'

'Surely you know the answer to both those questions already,' replied the intruder, before stepping into the clear candle light. Professor Trelawney recognised him instantly, not from his face but his manner betrayed his identity. He raised his white hat slightly in greeting.

'I am indeed humbled that you paid me a visit,' she said softly. 'To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?'

Smith smiled slightly and took a seat in the armchair directly opposite to the one that Trelawney was in. 'I was wondering if you would do a card reading for me. I sense a great evil approaching, but I need some more specific details.'

'A great evil you say. What manner of evil?' she asked, her interest piqued. But Smith remained silent. Realising there was little point pursuing the subject, Trelawney rose from her chair and moved across to the shelves that lined the walls of her classroom. They were full of tea pots, crystal balls, and great thick textbooks, but also a small collection of packs of tarot cards. Selecting her favourite one, she moved back to her chair and sat down once more. Smith was now sitting comfortably with his legs crossed, his fingers together and waiting patiently for her to continue.

'I must warn you,' she said. 'There is no guarantee of good news. The cards may contain distressing-

But Smith waved his hand impatiently. 'I'm perfectly aware of what they may contain, that is why I wish to have the reading.'

She nodded lightly, and removed the cards from the pack. Shuffling them slightly, she placed five cards face down in two sections, one of three and the other of two.

'Let us start with the present,' she said, her voice regaining its former mystical quality. Smith, however, cut across her.

'I would prefer to start with the future,' and he flipped over the two cards. One was the hanged man, and the other was the Death card.

Outside the castle, the temperature dropped several degrees. Like the cat before them, the other animals that resided in the grounds felt uneasy and afraid in a way they never had before. Fang, Hagrid's great bull hound, whimpered lightly in his sleep. Even the Thestrals felt a pang of terror as they moved silently through the Forest. As they do before some form of natural disaster, the birds in the trees took flight, fleeing the grounds in an attempt to find a warmer and safer environment. The ground frost began to spread, emanating from the entrance of the castle, as the cold expanded outwards into the night.

'I can see it all clearly now,' said Trelawney. 'My dear, you are in the most terrible danger.' The remaining cards clearly pointed to this fact, and she was confused that her visitor still looked distinctly puzzled. 'From what I can see,' she continued. 'It is clear that whatever you are planning will end in fire. Whether you survive the coming inferno is down to your actions. Take the right action now and you can still save yourself.'

Suddenly, he leaned across the table. 'What about the others that cross my path? Can I save them too?' he asked, looking deep into her eyes. She saw a slightly hint of despair in his green eyes. Or were they blue? She found she could not tell.

'Some of them perhaps, but not all of them,' she finished dramatically. Smith closed his eyes and rested his head on his hands. Feeling distinctly uncomfortable with the situation, Trelawney reached forward and touched his shoulder gently. He looked up, and the smallest hint of smile played across his face.

'Thank you Professor for your assistance,' he said suddenly, getting to his feet. 'But I'm afraid I must be leaving now.'

Trelawney felt slightly taken aback. 'So soon?' she inquired. 'Will you not wait for the Headmaster's return? You and he are old friends after all.'

'I'm afraid not, the fewer people know about my visit the better. Speaking of which...' He reached across the table and placed two fingers lightly against Trelawney's temples. 'Forget,' he whispered. She felt decidedly confused for one moment and then felt a sense of incredible calm.

Smith watched impassively as Professor Trelawney slumped forward in her chair into a deep sleep, her head resting on the table. After having neatly tidied away the tarot cards, Smith left the classroom and proceeded back to the main Entrance Hall. There, he surveyed the golden hour glasses and the entrance to the Great Hall fondly, before turning and hurrying out of the castle.

After he had left the castle grounds, the warmth returned to the air and the frost gradually receded once more. The fleeing animals, however, did not return.


	2. Chapter 1 - Six Weeks Earlier

**Author Notes** – This is the first of many chapters to come. How any of this is related to what happens in the prologue will be revealed later. I wrote this chapter in much less time than I thought it would take, so it's up quite quickly. I can't promise any regular pattern of updating as my life won't allow it, but I can say that I will continue to update as often as I can.

**Rating** – PG.

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER ONE**

_Six Weeks Earlier_

Harry seriously considered reaching for his wand as he tried to heave his heavy trunk onto the Hogwarts Express. It really was unconscionable the number of textbooks that he had been required to bring for his fourth year of study; indeed, there were probably enough for him to open a small bookshop. Not that he minded studying at all, it was just the sheer weight of paper that he was forced to carry round that he objected to. This, combined with a substantial supply of clothes, a cauldron, a broomstick and various other items had ensured that his trunk was now heavier than the average teenager. None of this was a problem when it could be wheeled around on a trolley, but now he was trying to actually lift it onto the train, it had become a serious problem.

Luckily, before this could become an embarrassment, Ron came over to help him. Together, they were able to lift the trunk and carefully deposit it in one of the luggage racks that stood at either end of the many carriages that composed the Hogwarts Express. Panting slightly, Harry removed his glasses and wiped his brow with his sleeve, trying and failing to hide his mild exhaustion from his best friend, who was looking at him with a bemused expression. Harry just gave him a look that clearly indicated that Ron should remain silent, before setting off down the corridor in search of an empty compartment.

Harry was always felt a thrill of excitement whenever he boarded the Hogwarts Express. Every year, it was like the gateway between the Muggle world of his Aunt and Uncle that he hated so much, and the magical world that he adored. He could still remember vividly his first journey exactly three years ago, the uncertainty as well as the excitement. He remembered meeting Ron for the first time, and knowing straight away that he had found a friend, and it was on this train that he had been introduced to so much that he had never known existed before. He had changed a great deal in the last three years but the sense of wonder that he felt was the same as when he was eleven, that exhilarating feeling of infinite possibilities and new beginnings. It was the best feeling in the world.

'Where's Hermione gone then?' asked Harry, as he paused to let a small group of excitable first-years pass him in the corridor. He reflected for a moment at just how short they were, he was certain that he had not been that tiny when he first arrived at Hogwarts. Every year, the first-years seemed to get smaller and smaller.

Ron shrugged by way of a response. 'She mentioned something about wanting to talk to someone. Didn't say who.'

Harry frowned. 'There aren't any teachers on the train, are there? I mean, it must be at least three hours since she did any work and she might be getting worried that she's falling behind.' Ron grinned, but did not say anything. 'I'm sure she'll find us when she's done,' Harry added, and set off again.

Or at least he tried to set off again. At that particular moment, a trunk that may well have been even heavier than his own, came tumbling off the overhead rack where it had, until that very moment, been precariously balanced. It came crashing down, landing about six inches in front of where Harry had carelessly left his feet, causing several nearby students to shout with alarm. Harry had jumped backwards the moment he saw it fall, with the effect that he landed on Ron's feet, causing his friend to swear loudly and topple backwards, sending them both sprawling to the ground.

'Fantastic,' said Harry glibly to no one in particular. 'A large lump of wood just came closer to killing me than Voldemort ever managed. I can just imagine the headlines now, "Boy who lived dies in a tragic trunk accident".'

'Don't know what you've got to complain about,' muttered Ron darkly. 'I'm the one who actually got hurt. But isn't that always the way? I get the injuries, and you get the headlines.'

'Oh my God, are you two all right? I'm so sorry,' came a voice from somewhere above them. Harry looked up and saw Cedric Diggory, a sixth year Hufflepuff student who Harry had spent a little time with when he and the Weasleys had gone to the Quidditch World Cup in the summer holidays. Cedric was tall, broad and extremely handsome, with striking grey eyes and dark hair. At this moment his chiselled features were creased with concern as he looked down at the two boys sitting on the ground looking very dishevelled.

'Oh fine,' said Harry. 'I was just speculating on how the Daily Prophet would break the news that I had been killed by a large blunt object.' This made Cedric's face twitch slightly as if he was trying not to smile. 'I assume this is your trunk then?'

'Er...yeah, it might be,' Cedric replied, looking sheepish. 'I'm really sorry, there wasn't anywhere else to put it, and I thought I'd secured it properly. I told my friends it didn't look right, but they said it would be fine.' He was speaking very quickly now, and Harry held up his hand to stop him. Cedric, it seemed, took that as a request for help, for the next moment, he had grabbed Harry's hand and hauled him to his feet.

'Thanks,' said Harry. 'And don't worry about it, it didn't land anywhere near me.'

'Only because you decided to jump into the space I was occupying,' said Ron, as he got to his feet himself, clearly disgruntled that he had not been given the helping hand that Harry had.

'Stop complaining Ron,' said Harry, keeping his eyes fixed on Cedric. 'We've faced far worse than this. Now let's get this thing somewhere a bit safer shall we?'

Cedric smiled broadly, and Harry felt an odd feeling in his stomach, that he usually associated with playing Quidditch. 'An excellent idea, and then perhaps you'll let me buy you lunch...as an apology for assaulting you with my trunk.'

* * *

They found a space in one of the luggage areas and safely stowed Cedric's trunk away before heading to a spare compartment to while away the ten hours or so before they reached Hogwarts. Cedric insisted on accompanying Harry and Ron so he could buy them lunch, despite Harry saying that it wasn't necessary and that Cedric should return to his friends, a suggestion that he had dismissed.

'It's all right really,' he had said. 'I can always go and find them later, they'll cope without me for a little while.'

And so they sat and talked. Unsurprisingly, their main topic of conversation was Quidditch, starting with a reminisce about the World Cup. Harry could remember the events of that night as though it were yesterday. After the match had ended, there had been what could only be described as a riot; a group of Voldemort's old supporters had kidnapped a Muggle family and terrorised the assembled visitors. Not only that, but Harry, Ron and Hermione had subsequently been accused of conjuring the Dark Mark, Voldemort's hideous snake-like symbol that signified a murder had just taken place. Mr Weasley had explained to him the next day that all Death Eaters had this particular mark branded into their arms, and Voldemort could summon them just by touching one.

'What happened to you that night by the way?' asked Harry, directing his question at Cedric. 'I didn't see you with your father.'

'I wanted to go with him and help,' Cedric replied, a frown on his face. 'But he forbade it, and insisted that I stayed in the tent. I heard about what happened with the Dark Mark...it sounded terrifying. I wish I'd been there to help.' Harry noticed that Cedric was knotting his hands together, and gave him an encouraging smile, before quickly changing the subject.

About half an hour later, when the Quidditch talk was still flowing freely, the lunch trolley passed by the carriage, pushed as always by the friendly and slightly plump witch. Cedric was good as his word, and bought a large collection of drinks and snacks for them to share. Harry couldn't help notice that the witch blushed when Cedric smiled at her. It was common knowledge that he was very popular among the female population of Hogwarts, and if he was being entirely honest, Harry could see why. It occurred to him that he had never had a real opportunity to talk to Cedric. He had only met him twice before, and the first time was while they were several hundred feet up in the air and on opposing Quidditch teams so the potential for conversation had been severely limited. The second time had been on the way to the World Cup where the only topic being discussed was the impending match. It was nice to have the chance to sit and talk with someone new, and Harry was finding Cedric to be very pleasant company; he was funny, talkative and modest, all qualities that Harry considered very important. Perhaps nearly being hit on the head by a trunk does have some advantages, Harry thought to himself and smiled slightly.

'Right,' said Cedric suddenly, clapping his hands together. 'Who wants a game of Bertie Bott's Roulette?'

Harry pulled a confused face with Ron roared with laughter. 'Are you really sure that's a good idea? Fred and George made me play it once, let's just say it didn't end well.'

'A game involving Fred and George that didn't end well?' cut in Harry. 'I am surprised. How does it work anyway? If it's anything like Russian Roulette then you can count me out.'

'Right,' said Cedric, grabbing a box of "Every Flavour Beans". 'It's very simple. We each take it in turns to reach into the box with our eyes closed and take a bean at random. You can then choose to eat the bean or do a forfeit. It works better with alcohol, but I'm sure that between us, we can think of some inventive forfeits to keep it entertaining.'

'Actually, I think I would rather play Russian Roulette,' said Harry.

'Just be grateful that we're not Fred and George,' said Ron. 'You first then Harry.'

Thankfully for Harry, at that moment, Hermione entered the compartment looking extremely disgruntled. 'You'll never believe what I've just been told,' she began, and then she spotted Cedric looking at her, let out a startled noise, and turned a bright shade of red. Ron looked at Harry and rolled his eyes; despite being one of the most grown up people Harry had ever met, Hermione still had a tendency every so often to become a little girl again, usually when there was a particularly good looking man in the room. Cedric gave her a charming smile which made her blush an ever deeper shade of red, and she quickly sat down next to Harry.

Harry sensed the perfect opportunity to distract everyone from their game of Roulette. 'What is it?' he asked, not-so-subtly closing the box of "Every Flavour Beans" and moving it back to the larger pile of sweets on one of the seats. Hermione, who had recovered somewhat, glanced at Cedric, and Harry quickly explained, 'Don't worry about Cedric, he's only here because he's afraid I'm going to start legal action against him.'

'Oi,' cut in Cedric, looking offended. 'I'm here because you were careless enough to get in the way of my falling trunk, and I, being the gentleman that I am, took full responsibility for the incident.'

Harry couldn't help noticing that Hermione was looking from him to Cedric and back again with a very puzzled expression. A moment later it was gone as she had gone into full explanation mode. 'I've been hearing rumours all summer about this big event that they were planning to do at Hogwarts this year. I started looking into it, but it was all very hush, hush. I was just speaking to someone on the platform whose parents work at the Ministry, and I eventually got them to tell me what's going on.'

'Well,' said Ron expectantly. 'What is going on?'

'The Triwizard Tournament,' replied Hermione and Cedric together. Hermione looked at him, with a shocked expression on her face. 'Well, don't look so surprised,' Cedric continued. 'Remember that my Dad works for the Ministry as well.'

'I see,' said Hermione, looking thoroughly disgruntled that her great reveal had been sabotaged somewhat. 'Don't you think it's outrageous? I mean, with the Tournament's history, all those terrible things that have happened, and now they're actually going to bring it back. It's just so ridiculous -

'It's been cancelled,' interjected Cedric, but Hermione continued regardless.

'But they say they're putting in all these safeguards, but we all know what Hogwarts is like, so I just think it's completely...I'm sorry, what?'

'It's been cancelled,' Cedric repeated. 'They were just about ready to finalise the agreements and then the Ministry pulled the plug at the last minute.'

'Why?' asked Ron.

'No one knows exactly. Apparently someone very senior within the Ministry filed an objection based on some sort of legal grounds, and so they had to stop the whole thing.' He paused, before adding, 'That's bureaucracy for you.'

Harry had sat silent through this entire conversation but now felt it was time to intervene. 'I'm sorry, can we all just back up a minute, and remember that some of us are slow and ignorant. What exactly is the Triwizard Tournament and why is it "outrageous"?' he asked, doing exaggerated quotation symbols with his hands on the final word.

'You may as well explain Cedric,' said Hermione with a small smile, a smile that made Harry feel a little uncomfortable for some reason.

'Well,' began Cedric. 'The Triwizard Tournament is a centuries old tradition between the three largest schools in Europe: Hogwarts; Beauxbations in France; and Durmstrang in Bulgaria.' This last name made Ron wince slightly, but only Harry noticed, so Cedric did not pause. 'Each school would take it in turns to host the event every five years. During each tournament, a champion is selected from each school by some sort of independent judge that determines who among the students is the most deserving of that honour. Each is forced to compete in a series of difficult and dangerous challenges in order to win the championship, the glory for their school, a sack load of money, all the girls they could ever want etcetera.'

'But about a hundred years ago,' continued Hermione. 'The death toll became so high that the tournament was cancelled and hasn't been done since.'

'Death toll?' asked Harry. 'Sometimes I wonder if Hogwarts a safe place for children to be. There's already the murderous tree, giant man-eating spiders in the Forbidden Forest, and they were thinking of subjecting the students to a series of deadly challenges. Have they never heard of Health & Safety?'

'Heard of what?' said Ron, causing Harry and Hermione to laugh.

'Well,' said Hermione, adopting her matter-of-fact tone that Harry had become so used to. 'I think we can all be grateful that they cancelled the thing.'

Harry noticed that she was looking at him pointedly. 'What? Are you suggesting that I would enter the Triwizard Tournament? Blimey, you've got a low opinion of me Hermione.'

'Not at all,' she replied sardonically. 'But it's not as if something difficult and dangerous would appeal to you, would it?'

Cedric cut in at that moment. 'I'm sure Harry would have handled the Tournament brilliantly.' This compliment made Harry's stomach knot, but in an entirely pleasant manner, and he smiled at Cedric, who grinned back. 'Anyone who can survive an encounter with my trunk could easily overcome a fire-breathing dragon.'

Harry, Ron and Cedric all laughed, but Hermione just looked confused. 'Can someone please tell me what's going on?' she asked.

* * *

They spent the rest of the journey in a comfortable atmosphere, talking about school work, Quidditch and the Triwizard Tournament, and passing the rest of time in silence. As the sky began to darken outside, Ron laid back against his seat and closed his eyes. Hermione was flicking through a new textbook and Cedric was reading a copy of the Daily Prophet. The headline read 'Auror Mad-Eye Moody To Take Teaching Post at Hogwarts'.

Harry was watching Cedric carefully and thinking. He sensed instinctively that he liked the Hufflepuff boy, but he couldn't account for the strange sensation that he felt whenever Cedric smiled at him. It made Harry feel uplifted, and he couldn't remember the last time that seeing someone smile had made him feel like this. Actually he could. It had been the previous year when he had first seen Cho Chang at the match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. When she had smiled at him before the game began, he had felt that feeling in his stomach. At this point, however, his mind was not allowing him to consider that the two feelings could be related. How could they be? All he knew was that he liked it the way Cedric looked at him, and he wasn't at all looking forward to having to part when they reached Hogwarts.

He suddenly realised that Hermione was watching him watch Cedric, and quickly starting looking out the window. He saw out of the corner of his eye Hermione raise her eyebrows slightly, before going back to her book. Before he could reflect any further, the voice of the conductor came piercing through the silence. '_We will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage, it will be taken to the school separately_.'

'That's our cue,' said Cedric, getting to his feet. 'It's been fun people.' Harry noticed that Cedric was looking right at him, but Harry decided to remain looking fixedly out the window.

'Yes,' agreed Hermione, also getting to her feet. 'It was nice to spend a train journey where all my fellow passengers weren't obsessed with Quidditch.' She paused. 'Oh wait, never mind. It's just a dream I have.'

'A dream that will never be fulfilled so long as you spend time with us Hermione,' replied Harry, finally taking his eyes from the window as they pulled slowly into Hogsmeade station. 'But at least you know where you stand.'

Cedric bent over and scooped something off the floor. 'We forget to eat this chocolate frog,' he said before throwing it to Harry who caught it with the help of his Seeker's reflexes. 'You may as well have it.'

'Thanks,' said Harry and unwrapped it. He took a bite out of the frog and looked at the card that came with it. He recognised the face immediately as the same as on one of the first cards he had ever collected. A man with shoulder length brown hair stared back at him; he was wearing Edwardian style clothing: a frock coat, silver waistcoat, and a green cravat that covered his neck. Harry stowed the card in his robes and ate the rest of the frog.

'Ready everyone?' asked Cedric. They all nodded and together, the four of them left their carriage and disembarked the train, emerging into the chilling evening air. The platform was already packed with other students, all making their way towards the horseless carriages that would transport them up to the school. The first years were all congregating by Hagrid, who would take them on their traditional trip to the castle by lake. Harry had never understood this tradition, there was nothing particularly pleasant about the lake, and the last thing Harry wanted to do was end up in it because of some freak boating accident.

'Just as well the rain held off,' muttered Hermione, just as there was a loud rumble of thunder. 'Although perhaps I may have spoken too soon.'

'Let's get a move on then,' said Harry.

He was about to set off towards one of the carriages when he heard a loud voice calling Cedric's name. He turned and saw what must have been one of Cedric's friends beckoning to him. 'Right people,' said Cedric. 'Looks like I've got to be off.' Harry tried to disguise his look of disappointment as best he could. 'Though...could I have a quick word Harry?'

'Sure,' said Harry, looking at his other friends. 'Erm...do you two want to go and get in one of the carriages, I'll catch you up.'

'OK,' said Hermione, and she grabbed Ron's arm and began to navigate him. 'Don't take too long though, I don't think the carriages wait for stragglers.'

'I...erm,' began Cedric, and Harry could tell that he was nervous. 'I had fun today...on the train, I mean. It was good to spend time with you.' Harry smiled, which seemed to give Cedric a little more confidence. 'I also wanted to say sorry, for what my Dad said to you before the Quidditch World Cup. About the match last year. He's always going on like that, I felt really bad after considering, you know, the circumstances.'

'Me falling off my broom because of Dementors you mean?' Harry added. 'Don't worry about it. I...heard that you tried to get the match called off. That was nice of you.'

'It was only fair. We didn't deserve to win that game. I got lucky, and you didn't. Though...I suppose you must be used to that by now. Anyway, I'd better go.'

'Me too,' said Harry, and began to turn away, before adding. 'I had fun as well today. Perhaps we could...you know, hang out some time?'

Cedric smiled, and Harry couldn't help noticing how perfectly arranged his teeth were. 'I'd like that. See you round Harry.' And with that, he was off, marching towards his friends. Harry saw one of them clap Cedric on the shoulder, and he watched as they all clambered into one of the carriages. Remembering that his friends were waiting for him, Harry hurried off in the direction that Ron and Hermione had gone, and saw Ron waving to him from the door of a carriage. He clambered up the steps and sat down next to his friend.

'Everything all right?' asked Hermione, fixing him with another one of those looks that she had used on the train. 'What did Cedric want?'

'Nothing,' replied Harry quickly. Then he realised that they were both looking at him. 'He...er...wanted to apologise for what his Dad said before the World Cup. About that match last year with the Dementors.'

'Well, that was nice of him,' said Hermione. 'He seems like a really nice guy all round.'

'Yeah,' said Harry, settling back against his seat and smiling slightly to himself. 'He is.'


	3. Chapter 2 - Confused Feelings

**Author Notes** – I wrote this chapter in an afternoon, which has never happened before, but the ideas just kept coming so why stop? Some important stuff in this chapter but we're still very much establishing the story at the moment.

**Rating** – PG

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER TWO**

_Confused Feelings_

The entrance to the Hufflepuff common room was concealed to the right hand side of the door that led to the kitchens. Hiding the passageway that the students used to access it was a large stack of barrels, and in order to gain access, one merely had to tap the correct one in the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff. Doing so would make the lid swing open, which could then be climbed through into a passageway that led to the basement. After having been at Hogwarts for five years, Cedric now did this almost automatically, but he was always careful to ensure that he tapped the right barrel. It had been something of a shock to him in his first year when he had absent-mindedly tapped the third barrel from the bottom rather than the second and been doused in an extremely unpleasant spelling vinegar that had taken hours to wash off. Indeed, this particular safeguard meant that of the four common rooms situated in the castle, only that of Hufflepuff had never been infiltrated by a student in over a thousand years.

Cedric was returning to the common room after a particular hard day of lessons. Although it was only the first day of term, he already felt as though his brain had been surgically removed, put through a meat grinder, and then replaced back to front. Why this particular metaphor had occurred to him he had no idea. It seemed that the rumours were true, the N.E. in the 'Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests' that, now he was in his sixth year, he had the pleasure of attempting, was no exaggeration. His Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson had been particular unpleasant; Professor Moody had insisted on them studying a very complicated set of spell diagrams, before attempting to formulate their own diagrams for possible counter curses. No one had succeeded in creating a workable spell, which had left the Professor in a less than pleasant mood, and probably helped to explain the probably illegal amount of homework that they had been set at the end of the lesson.

Normally, Cedric would have hoped to have a little more success than his peers at difficult spell diagrams; it had, after all, been one of the strongest parts of his O.W.L exams. But, he had to admit to himself, he had been rather distracted by the events of the previous day. It was no secret at Hogwarts, certainly amongst his friends in Hufflepuff, that he was gay, and so far, that had never been a particular problem. Occasionally he had been on the receiving end of some snide comments, but on the whole, the wizarding community was very accepting of homosexuality, particular compared to the bigotry that he had heard about in the Muggle world. The trouble was that being at school meant he had limited opportunities to explore his sexuality, and actually discover more about himself. He was, as far as he could tell, the only openly gay student at Hogwarts, and so had never really felt much attraction to any of his fellow students. That had changed yesterday.

Cedric paused in front of the barrels, before reaching down and tapping a rhythm of four, on the second one from the bottom. It opened with a disgruntled creaking sound, and Cedric, feeling that this was never a particular graceful display, clambered into the barrel and out into the passageway. He remembered well the feeling of excitement he had had when he had first climbed through this passage, not knowing what he was about to find. Even now, he still found the Hufflepuff common room beautiful.

The basement itself was a round room with a low ceiling, and an earthy feel to it. It was full of overstuffed armchairs and sofas, each with a yellow and black upholstery. Set into the walls were a series of circular windows that provided a vista of vegetation, including exotic types of grass, and other species of plants. The room was heavily decorated with other plant life, specifically brought in by Professor Sprout to add character and atmosphere to the basement, though Cedric had to admit that the large yellow and green plant that sang loudly as you walked past was a little bit excessive. The most impressive feature of the room was the mantelpiece, made of solid wood and engraved with pictures of the Hufflepuff badger. It was on this that the students were encouraged to show off their achievements, so there was a large collection of medals and trophies covering it, two of which were down to Cedric's triumphs in both lessons and Quidditch. Hanging above the mantelpiece was a large portrait of Helga Hufflepuff, the founder of his house, who smiled warmly at him when he looked at her. Cedric spent as much time as he could in here, working, talking to his friends, or just sitting alone and thinking. Unfortunately it seemed he was going to be spending this particular evening doing the former, and so headed to his dormitory to collect the textbook he needed.

The Hufflepuff dormitories could be found at the end of a series of tunnels that led off from the main common room. Cedric's own particular room had six four-poster beds in it, each covered with a black and yellow patchwork quilt, and each one had a spacious desk and set of drawers to its left hand side. The room was illuminated by copper lamps, and a set of bedpans hung from the wall for use during the winter. Cedric loved his room, he had plenty of space, but there was also a great communal atmosphere and he got on well with all his roommates. After a day like this, Cedric had a great temptation to just curl up on his comfortable bed and have a nap, but he knew that he far too much work to do, and had no intention of starting the year behind everyone else.

He moved quickly across the room to his bed, and opened one of the drawers in his desk. Retrieving his textbook, 'Advanced Spell Diagrams' by J. A. Smith, he was about to leave the room again and return to the common room when the door opened and his good friend James wandered in. He took one look at the book in Cedric's hand and rolled his eyes theatrically.

'Let me guess,' said James. 'You're trying to devise a spell that'll make you less of a swat.'

'Hilarious,' replied Cedric, completely deadpan. 'I might just have to pick up my head from the floor where it's fallen off from laughing. In fact, have you got a needle and thread because both my sides have split?'

'What do you use a needle and thread for?' asked James, and Cedric cracked and began to laugh. 'What? We can't all be as obsessed with Muggles as you are, Cedric.'

Cedric could hardly deny this. Ever since he had been young, he had had a fascination with every aspect of Muggle life. The way they existed without magic, the ingenious way that they had invented such powerful machines that could do the jobs that wizards did with just a flick of their wands. It was, for want of a better word, magical. Cedric, for obvious reasons, found their attitude towards gay people particularly fascinating. They had such a capacity for fragile human weakness and kindness on one hand, and yet the same capacity for evil and hate on the other; he had spent a great deal of his summers investigating Muggle history, and was both terrified and reassured by what he had read.

'So what are you doing then?' asked James.

'Defence Against the Dark Arts homework,' replied Cedric, with a forced grimace. 'Moody's a hard task-master. And he scares me, so I'd rather not find out what he might to do to me if I don't master these spell diagrams by tomorrow's lesson.'

'He sounds like a laugh a minute.'

'Well, we can't all have the delights of Snape for our lessons. How was he this afternoon?'

'Oh, on great form. I'm always amazed how we manages to bring his hatred of Harry Potter into every lesson, even when there are no Gryffindors in the room.' Cedric couldn't help grinning at the mention of Harry, something that James seemed to pick up on. 'Speaking of Harry Potter, noticed that you were talking to him yesterday when everyone was getting off the train.'

'Yeah,' said Cedric, suddenly very self-conscious. He hoped very much that he wasn't turning red. 'We were just talking...about Quidditch, you know.'

'Quidditch,' repeated James slowly. 'I'm sure.'

'Oi, don't start. You know what this place is like with rumours. Before long, they'll be a rumour that me and Harry are getting married.'

'On first name terms are we now?'

'No...well, maybe. We're just...you know...it's not anything but...have I ever told you that I really hate you?'

'Frequently. Besides, don't know what you've got to be embarrassed about. It's about time you found a man. At least then we wouldn't have to constantly hear about you being single.'

'Well your concern for my well-being is very touching, but I'm afraid that I haven't "found a man", with Harry or anyone else. That's the trouble with this place, full of boring heterosexuals and people in the closet.'

'Have you...er...you know, said anything to your father yet?' asked James, suddenly looking quite serious.

'Of course not, you know what he's like. It's not his fault, it's just his upbringing. I'm going to tell him at some point, but the longer I can put that moment off the better I think. Now, if you don't mind, these spell diagrams aren't going to learn themselves.'

Cedric strode out of his dormitory and headed back to the common room, but his mind was not on spell diagrams at all. Was it really that obvious that he had found himself quite attracted to Harry when they had been on the train yesterday? More specifically, was it really obvious to Harry? Cedric hoped not. After all, Harry had been raised by Muggles and Cedric wasn't at all optimistic about what Harry's reaction might be to discovering that another boy was attracted to him. No, Cedric decided suddenly, he would leave well alone. This was famous Harry Potter after all, he probably wasn't at all interested in Cedric.

* * *

Could Cedric Diggory really be interested in him, thought Harry as he headed towards Professor Moody's office. He really hadn't been concentrating on his lessons that day, his mind had kept wondering off to a particular grey-eyed sixth year Hufflepuff student. His absent-mindedness had earned him the ire of Professor McGonagall, who scalded him for his lack of progress on the animal transfiguration spells they had been practicing. After that, he had forced his mind back to his studies, but by the time they had reached Divination that afternoon, his lack of concentration had returned. Not that Professor Trelawney had helped matters, she seemed even more certain of Harry's impending demise than ever before, and her predictions of his painful death always made his mind wander.

He couldn't remember the last time that he had enjoyed spending time with someone as much. Sure, he loved Ron and Hermione, but he saw them every day, and there was something exciting about Cedric, the fact that he was an attractive and popular sixth year made the way he seemed to like Harry even more unlikely. But Harry couldn't get out of his head the image of Cedric smiling at him, and the way that he had taken Harry aside to tell him how much he had enjoyed spending time with him. Perhaps they could really be friends after all. Harry's mind still wasn't completely ready to accept that there might be more to it than that. In all his life, Harry had never had any reason to question his sexuality, and the leaping feeling he felt in his stomach whenever he thought about Cedric was something completely new, something that he hadn't yet come to terms with.

He had been hoping for a quiet evening to think about this, but the moment he had sat down in his favourite chair in the Gryffindor common room, a small scrap of paper had come flying out of the fireplace and landed in Harry's lap. Intrigued, Harry had unfolded it and read a small note asking him to come to Professor Moody's office immediately as there was something that they needed to discuss. Hermione had cautioned him against it, on the grounds that this was a very unorthodox way for a teacher to communicate with a student.

'But Hermione,' Harry had said. 'Does Moody really strike you as the "orthodox" type?' And so, he had decided to go and find out exactly what Moody wanted.

The Defence Against the Dark Arts office was located on the second floor. Every year the office had a different atmosphere depending on the occupant. Last year, whenever Harry had visited Professor Lupin, he could expect to find some interesting variety of magical creature that they would tackle in the next lesson, and during Lockhart's tenure, the walls had been covered in smiling portraits of Lockhart himself which was, put simply, vomit inducing. Harry couldn't help feeling that the new occupant would have quickly made his mark.

He wasn't wrong. The room was incredibly dark, and covered in all types of magical devices. Most interesting was the trunk in the corner with seven keyholes in a row. Harry longed to know what was inside, but guessed that Moody probably wouldn't show him.

'Potter,' said Moody, his scarred face twitching slightly. 'I saw you coming, in my Foe Glass.' He gestured to a large mirror in the corner, in which Harry could see a lot of swirling shadows, but a reflection of himself in clear sight. 'What can I do for you Potter?'

'Erm,' said Harry confused. 'I thought you sent for me Professor. I got a message on a scrap of paper...it shot out of the fire.'

'Did it now?' Moody said, and Harry saw him glance down at his desk, where a small scrap of charred paper similar to the one that Harry had received, lying on top of a pile of books. 'Well that makes things interesting. Come closer a little, let me look at you properly.' Harry did as he was told, moving into the light that the lamp that Moody's desk lamp was casting, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. Moody stared at him for a moment. 'Well, I suppose you'll have to do.'

This just confused Harry even further, and he also felt a stab of annoyance; it seemed very much like he was being judged as inadequate. 'Sorry sir,' he said, with forced politeness, remembering that Moody was a dangerous Auror who had probably killed a few Death Eaters. 'But I'll do for what exactly?'

'That,' replied Moody, 'is on a strictly need to know basis, and you don't need to know.' He turned away, and sat down on his desk chair. 'Come back to my office next Thursday at 7, and we'll discuss the next move.'

'OK,' said Harry. He didn't move as Moody opened up one of the books and started to read. After a few seconds, his magical eye shot up and focused on Harry again.

'You can go Potter,' he said, and Harry moved towards the door. He was about to leave the room when Moody spoke again. 'Keep an eye on Diggory for me, would you?'

'I'm sorry, what?' asked Harry, turning back.

'You heard. Now run along Potter, before curfew starts. You don't want to be caught out of bed after hours.'

* * *

Harry was so distracted on his way back to the Gryffindor common room that he didn't notice Cedric passing him in the corridor, that was until the older boy stopped and grabbed his arm.

'Harry,' he said, looking surprised. 'What are you doing here? You shouldn't be out of the common room at this time.'

Harry couldn't help feeling his mood lift slightly at the sight of Cedric. 'Why thank you Professor McGonagall, I completely forgot how late it was.'

'All right,' said Cedric smiling. 'I was just surprised to see you that's all. What's up?'

'Oh not much, you know. Standard first day of term: several predictions of my impending doom from Trelawney, and a mystery meeting with the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher where he seemed to imply that I was barely adequate.'

Cedric frowned, which somehow made his face appear even more attractive than before. 'Well, we all know about Trelawney's predictions, we're all heading for a painful demise according to her, but what was that last one?'

Harry explained about the mystery slip of paper that had come from the fireplace, and Moody's bizarre behaviour in his office. Cedric stood silent throughout, listening intently. 'And then he dismissed me, telling me to come back next Thursday,' finished Harry, intentionally missing out the part where Moody had told him to keep an eye on Cedric.

'That is weird,' said Cedric, nodding. 'He's clearly got something in mind.'

'Yeah,' agreed Harry. 'Anyway, what are you doing out here?'

'On patrol,' replied Cedric, and Harry raised his eyebrows quizzically. 'New policy apparently. Dumbledore wants the prefects to patrol the corridors in the evening.'

'Why? It's not like last year, with Sirius Black hanging around all over the place.' Harry fell silent, thinking for a moment. There was clearly something going on, what with this new heightened security and his mysterious summoning to Moody's office. 'What the hell is going on in this place?' he mused aloud.

'No idea, I've just learned to take life as it comes,' said Cedric, and Harry smiled. 'Anyway, I've been meaning to have a word with you.' Harry noticed that Cedric was not really looking him in the eye.

'What is it?' asked Harry, completely oblivious to what Cedric was talking about.

'Now then,' said a voice from behind them. Harry turned and saw Snape glaring at him. 'Running the curfew a little bit fine aren't you Potter?'

'Professor Moody wanted to see him, sir,' cut in Cedric, before Harry could reply.

Snape visibly sneered at the mention of Moody's name. 'Did he now? Well, off you go to bed then Potter. I would hate to have to take points from Gryffindor because of tardiness.'

Harry could sense Cedric deflate slightly at Snape's words, but he had no other choice. He set off down the corridor, and deliberately didn't look back, not wanting to witness Snape's smug face. Although he desperately wanted to hear what Cedric had to say to him, he wasn't prepared to risk getting into trouble with Snape, and so it would have to wait.

* * *

Cedric made his way back to the Hufflepuff common room an hour later feeling depressed. Part of him was annoyed with Snape for interrupting his conversation, but perhaps it had been a blessing in disguise, as he didn't really have any idea what he was going to say to Harry. He could hardly just come out and tell Harry that he was attracted to him, so what would he have said? That he wanted to be friends? Hardly something you needed to have a serious conversation about.

He was at a loss for what to do. Harry was almost definitely straight, and not interested in Cedric, but Cedric couldn't remember someone having this sort of affect on him. He knew that if he was sensible he would write the whole thing off as silly, and let it go. But he couldn't do it.

He couldn't.


	4. Chapter 3 - And So It Begins

**Author Notes** – Story really starts to get going in this chapter, and the ramifications of what happens here will seriously affect what comes after, so plenty to look forward to. This chapter took a little longer to write than I thought, but I think it's better for it. Next one will be up as soon as possible, but there might be a delay as I'm moving house.

**Rating** – PG

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER THREE**

_And So It Begins_

The rest of his first week back at Hogwarts passed largely without incident, which meant that by the next Monday morning, Harry was longing for something interesting to happen. It wasn't that he looked forward to trouble exactly, but it certainly made life more exciting. He had wondered once or twice whether it would have been better if they had gone ahead with the Triwizard Tournament, but he didn't dare mention this to Hermione, of course, her smug 'I-told-you-so' look would have been just too much to bare.

The three of them had spent most of Sunday working on an extremely difficult essay that Professor McGonagall had set, which she had justified by informing them that their OWLs were just around the corner. She had been left seemingly less than impressed by Ron reminding her that the exams were still almost two years away.

'That is all very well Weasley,' she had snapped. 'But until you can successfully transform your teapot into a tortoise then you are not allowed to complain about the level of homework.'

They had finally finished just before midnight, so Harry felt very tired and irritable sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast that morning. His mood lifted slightly when the post arrived and he saw Hedwig flying towards him. She dropped a small note into his lap, and then perched on his shoulder, hooting in a self-satisfied way. He flipped the scrap of parchment over and read,

_Harry_

_You mentioned that you wanted to meet up at some point, and as the Quidditch season is about to start, I was wondering if you wanted to go flying this evening. Thought it might be fun._

_Let me know,_

_Cedric :)_

Harry considered this for a moment. He hadn't thought much about Cedric since they had spoken in the corridor the previous Monday. Occasionally his mind would wonder to the Hufflepuff boy, and that feeling in his stomach was still the same as it had been on the Hogwarts Express. The thought of spending some time with Cedric while engaging in his favourite pastime sounded like a great idea. He suddenly realised that Ron and Hermione were looking at him, and he quickly scrunched up the note and put it in his pocket.

'What was that?' asked Hermione, looking intrigued.

'Nothing important,' said Harry, and quickly changed the subject. He wasn't sure why he didn't want to tell his best friends about his plans, but he felt he would prefer this meeting to be kept just between Cedric and himself. When both Ron and Hermione were looking elsewhere, he glanced over at the Hufflepuff table and caught Cedric's eye. He gave a thumbs-up and received seven fingers up in return. Harry assumed that this meant a time to meet and smiled in response, feeling both excited and nervous.

'Right,' said Hermione, dragging Harry's concentration back to the present. 'I suppose we'd better go, don't want to be late to hand these essays in.'

'Why not?' asked Ron, deadpan. 'I'll probably get a higher mark if I don't hand it in.'

'Having read your conclusion Ron, I think you might be right,' replied Hermione.

'Thanks Hermione, you bring such happiness into my life.'

* * *

Harry's stomach was still churning as he made his way down to the Quidditch pitch that evening, his Firebolt slung over his shoulder. He had found it hard to concentrate on his lessons all day, so much so that he had been admonished by Professor McGonagall after he failed to reply to her calling his name for the register. He had tried to focus on the new spell that they were trying to master, but his mind kept wondering off to think about a particular sixth year Hufflepuff with grey eyes. He couldn't remember being this nervous about meeting someone since his first year when he had gone flying for the first time with Oliver Wood. He was very much hoping that when he started flying, his nerves would melt away like they always had before.

He had spent his lunch hour deep in thought about Cedric. Harry couldn't remember feeling like this about anyone before, so much so that he really wasn't sure exactly what he was thinking or feeling. All he could be sure of was that he wanted Cedric to be his friend, he really wanted it, possibly more than he did about anyone else. Despite the fact that they had only held three or four proper conversations in the last year, Harry always felt uplifted when he saw and spoke to Cedric, and he wanted to feel that way more often.

The Quidditch pitch looked the same as ever. The stands were empty, of course, and there was an eerie silence. Harry had never been here alone before, and he had to admit that he felt slightly uneasy; he definitely preferred it when the stands were full of screaming and jeering people, he always flew better with an audience.

He scanned the pitch looking for Cedric, but couldn't see him anywhere. Suddenly a movement in the stands caught his eye. He squinted, trying to see more clearly, and could definitely make out a figure standing there, a figure that he could have sworn hadn't been there a moment ago. Harry was too far away to make out any details of whoever it was, but the hair on the back of his neck was standing up. He had the nastiest feeling that the figure was watching him and he didn't like it one bit. Harry blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, the stands were empty once more. The figure, whoever or whatever it had been, had vanished as quickly as it appeared.

'What the hell was that?' Harry whispered, and moved closer to the stands. It was no use, however. There was no sign that anyone had been there. Harry knew perfectly well that it was impossible to Apparate within the Hogwarts grounds, so the speed at which the figure had disappeared unnerved him greatly. He had little time to dwell on this, however, as at that moment, he spotted Cedric making his way towards him. Cedric was smiling broadly, which successfully distracted Harry from what had just happened.

'Harry, it's good to see you.' He paused at the look on Harry's face, and his own frowned with concern. Harry remembered how this made him look even more attractive than he was already. 'Everything all right Harry?'

Harry considered telling Cedric about what he had just seen. Although it would have been good to hear what Cedric thought about it, he didn't want to start the evening by announcing that he was seeing mysteriously vanishing people. More than anything he just wanted to have some fun this evening, and he wasn't going to let yet another unexplained event in his life get in the way. Part of him was sure that he was being punished for wishing for some more excitement at breakfast. 'No,' he decided upon in the end. 'Just not used to the Quidditch pitch being so quiet, it's a bit creepy.'

Cedric nodded. 'Know what you mean. Well, shall we begin?'

'Sure,' said Harry, smiling. 'Shall I go and get the balls?'

'No need,' said Cedric, and he pulled his wand out from his robes, and directed it in the direction of the store cupboards. '_Accio!_' Harry was unfamiliar with this spell, and so was shocked to see the trunk that contained the four Quidditch balls hurtling towards them. It slowed down and came to rest on the ground at Cedric's feet. 'Handy little spell that one, you'll probably be learning it soon.'

'Good,' Harry cut in. 'I'll never have to leave my chair again.' He bent down and released the Quaffle. 'Warm up?'

Cedric grinned and they both mounted their brooms; Harry noted that Cedric was riding an extremely well looked after Nimbus Two Thousand, and he felt a small pang of regret as he remembered the fate of his old broom, and the memories that accompanied it. To his surprise, Cedric seemed to realise exactly what he was thinking. 'I always thought your old broom was brilliant,' he said, looking at Harry. 'Seeing you get one was what convinced me to get one of my own. My Dad took some convincing but he relented when the team made me Seeker.'

'Yeah, I miss my old Nimbus...But then again, I do have a Firebolt now so I can hardly complain, can I?' He kicked off from the ground, and accelerated at a lightning pace into the air, and all the excitement that came with flying came flooding back, completely removing from his mind the mysterious figure he had seen in the stands.

'All right then, show-off!' shouted Cedric from the ground, and he too took off, quickly catching up with Harry. Harry had to admit that Cedric was an excellent flyer, which only served to make Harry like him even more. 'Let's see if you're as skilled with the Quaffle as you are with the Snitch!' He threw the large red ball to Harry, who caught it with ease, before taking off towards the other end of the pitch. 'Coming?' he called back, and Harry kicked forward, speeding after the older boy.

* * *

They spent over an hour in the air, eventually moving on from throwing the Quaffle to each other to a head-to-head competition to catch the Snitch as many times as possible. They were evenly matched, and as time went on, they both got more and more competitive, eventually engaging in some extremely reckless and ungraceful looking stunts. Unfortunately the sun was now setting rapidly, and so they returned to the ground to avoid running the risk of losing the Snitch in the dark.

'At the final count,' said Cedric, dismounting his broom. 'You caught the Snitch twelve times and I...' he paused for dramatic effect, 'achieved a resounding victory with thirteen.'

Harry gave him a sarcastic slow hand-clap. 'Well done, I'll just go to Angelina and tender my resignation now, shall I?'

'Probably a good idea, it'll just save you embarrassment later.'

'You should just be grateful that I'm allowed to come and practice with a member of an opposing team. There's no way Oliver Wood would have tolerated such fraternisation.' Harry was surprised that Cedric grimaced slightly at the mention of Oliver, and Harry grinned. 'Something you want to share?'

'Not really,' said Cedric, suddenly looking serious, which made Harry stop smiling.

'Sorry,' said Harry quickly. 'Did I say something wrong?'

Cedric looked at him and his expression softened. 'No, I'm sorry Harry. It's just me and Oliver...have some history that I'd prefer not to talk about. Don't worry about it.' He sat down on the grass of the pitch and patted the spot next to him. 'Care to join me?'

'Well, it's either that or a Potions essay so...' Harry said, and dropped to the floor, crossing his legs and sitting facing Cedric. 'So tell me,' he continued. 'What's it really like being in Hufflepuff?'

Cedric punched Harry lightly on the arm. 'Oi, no mocking. We're not as boring as the Sorting Hat makes out every year.' He paused, looking considerate. 'Actually, I'm not just saying this, but I really love Hufflepuff. Don't take this the wrong way but all the other Houses are so preoccupied with their little rivalries that they forget what really matters, and that's what we all share in common. The teachers here talk all the time about unity and working together, but the first thing they do when we get to school is to divide us arbitrarily into four groups. But in Hufflepuff, we're interested in what people are really like, rather than just a label.'

Harry thought about this for a moment, remembering his own experience of the Sorting Hat and how he had so nearly been placed in Slytherin. How different his Hogwarts experience might have been if he hadn't known about the reputation of Slytherin and decided so emphatically that he wanted to be in Gryffindor. 'I suppose you're right, but I'm still not going to make friends with any Slytherins.'

'Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to snog Draco Malfoy,' said Cedric, grinning again. 'But just don't judge them all the same, you never know when people might surprise you.'

'Did you know that I was almost put in Slytherin?' said Harry, before he knew what he was doing. He suddenly realised what he had said and panicked slightly; he had never told anyone else about this apart from Dumbledore, and he wasn't sure why he had blurted it out like that.

'Really?' said Cedric, looking quite shocked, and then he dissolved into laughter. 'Oh dear,' he choked. 'The hero of Gryffindor Harry Potter was almost put in Slytherin, I wonder what they'd all think?'

'Hey, hey!' said Harry. 'Don't laugh about such things! It was terrifying at the time, the Sorting Hat kept telling me that I'd do so well in Slytherin. I've...er...never told any of my friends that. I'm not quite sure why I just said that.'

Cedric suddenly stopped laughing, and looked at Harry seriously. 'Well...I hope you don't regret telling me that.'

Harry considered this for a moment. 'No,' he decided upon in the end. 'I think I trust you, but I'd prefer it if you didn't tell anyone, probably wouldn't go down very well.'

'Of course, you can trust me. I think the Sorting Hat was crazy anyway, you clearly should have been in Hufflepuff.'

'Oh very funny. Tell me then, how did you end up in that particular House? Parents?'

'Actually no,' Cedric replied, also crossing his legs and looking directly at Harry. 'Both my parents were in Ravenclaw, and so it was sort of assumed that I would be as well. I remember how disappointed my Dad was when I was sorted into Hufflepuff. I mean, he tried to hide it but it was sort of obvious. I think that's part of the reason why I do all the things I do...you know: prefect, grades, Seeker. You see Harry, I might be proud of being in Hufflepuff, but I wish I could say the same for my father.'

Harry sensed that there was more to this than Cedric was saying, but the unhappy expression on Cedric's face meant that he didn't push the point. He decided instead to change the subject. 'How's work going at the moment? Can't say I'm looking forward to my OWLs'

'Ha!' said Cedric. 'You wait. I thought that OWLs were difficult until this week. Once you get into sixth year, you'll look back at these years fondly.'

'I'll take your word for that. At least I'll finally be able to bid farewell to a particular Potions teacher that shall remain nameless.'

'I've no idea who you could possibly be referring to,' said Cedric. 'Seriously though, why does Snape hate you so much?'

'Long story, let's just say he had history with my father, and he's somehow managed to hold a grudge over an entire generation. There's not much more to it than that. But when it gets too much, I can always think back to last year when Neville Longbottom turned a Boggart Snape into an imitation of his grandmother.'

'Yeah, I heard about that, I think that Snape was less than pleased about that. What did the Boggart turn into for you?' This made Harry's smile falter, and Cedric seemed to realise instantly that something was wrong. 'Sorry, I didn't mean to –

'It's fine,' Harry interrupted. 'But do you really need to ask?' He looked into Cedric's eyes.

Cedric looked at him intently, as though he was trying to read his mind. Then he looked away and whispered, 'Dementors.' Cedric's face creased as though he was mulling over his next words. Eventually he continued, 'What happened at the Quidditch match last year? I mean, I know how horrible those things are but I've never seen anyone react like that...particularly someone as b-brave as you.'

This made Harry's stomach knot tightly. 'Believe me, I'm not that brave. When the Dementors come near me, I hear my parents being murdered. The first time it was just the sound of my mother screaming, which was the worst sound I've heard in my entire life, but then I started to hear everything that happened that night. My father trying to hold Voldemort off, and my mother...pleading with him, asking him...' He found that he couldn't go on, his eyes had clouded over slightly, and he was trying very hard not to let any tears run out.

'Listen to me Harry,' said Cedric, leaning towards him. 'I can't imagine what you've gone through in your life, and I probably never can what with my sheltered upbringing. But I stand by what I said, you are brave.' He paused again. 'No one knows this...but I'm afraid all the time, of what I might do if I ever lose control of my life.'

Harry smiled at him, and Cedric smiled back. It was at this point that Harry realised how close Cedric was to him, and also that Cedric's hand was on his leg. How had he not noticed that before? His mind suddenly clouded over and he responded in the only way he could think of. He panicked, and jumped to his feet. 'Right,' he said, trying to sound businesslike. 'Suppose we'd better be going, it'll be curfew soon. Don't want to be caught out late.'

Cedric looked at him for a moment, and Harry could swear he saw a pained expression flash across his attractive features. 'I guess you're right,' Cedric said, and he too got to his feet. 'I'll walk back to the Entrance Hall if that's all right?' He asked this last question very hesitantly, which made Harry feel uneasy.

'Of course,' Harry replied quickly, trying to ease the tension a little. 'I'll just go and put the balls back a second.'

They walked back to the castle in silence, which suited Harry just fine, because he was deep in thought. He couldn't believe that he had just divulged more secrets in one evening to an almost stranger than he had in his entire life. He didn't know why, but he just seemed to trust Cedric, even with things that he hadn't told Ron and Hermione. He glanced at Cedric, and could see that he too was thinking.

When they reached the Entrance Hall, where they would head in opposite directions to their dormitories, Cedric stopped and turned to look at Harry. 'Thanks for this evening, it was good to fly with you. We should do it again some time.'

'Yeah,' said Harry, fully aware that he was sounding somewhat non-committal. 'Erm...thanks for listening to all my many problems by the way. You're a...good listener.'

'That's all right, I hope it helped a little. I meant what I said you know, you've been through so much and you've come out with a heart of gold. I really admire you.'

'Thanks,' said Harry, and he could feel his throat constricting somewhat, as some of his emotions threatened to return to the surface. Before he knew what was happening, Cedric had wrapped his arms around Harry and embraced him in a hug. It was supremely comfortable, and Harry reciprocated, holding Cedric quite tightly; the older boy's impressive physique made this one of the better hugs that he had experienced, but Harry had the feeling that there may be a little bit more to it than that. It was several moments before they broke apart, and Cedric smiled at him. Harry felt a lot better than he had a few seconds ago.

'See you soon?' said Cedric, looking at him intently.

'Definitely,' replied Harry. 'I'd better go. Goodnight Cedric.'

'Goodnight Harry.'

Harry made his way back to the Gryffindor common room quickly and quietly, and it wasn't long before his mind descended into the confused fog once more as he reflected on the evening's events. It had definitely been one of his more eventful excursions at Hogwarts.

* * *

Cedric always hated Tuesday night patrols, and this evening was no exception to that rule. It wasn't that he objected to patrolling the corridors of Hogwarts as such, but when it came directly after Quidditch training, it left him with almost no time to catch up on the huge pile of work that his teachers had given him. The thought of having to struggle his way through another Defence Against the Dark Arts essay when he could finally return to the Hufflepuff common room at half past ten was distinctly unappealing.

At least the quiet of the castle corridors allowed him some time to reflect on what had happened the previous evening. Going flying with Harry had been the most fun he had had in a long time, and the frankly deep and intimate conversation they had shared afterwards had left his mind spinning. He could scarcely believe how much Harry and he had opened up to each other, especially considering that they barely knew one another. He was fairly certain that Harry had told him some things that even his best friends didn't know, and the fact of that had left Cedric with a mix of emotions.

Cedric was fairly clear in his own head now that he liked Harry, probably more than he liked his other friends, and the moments that they had shared made him even consider briefly the possibility that Harry might feel the same way about him. Harry certainly hadn't resisted when Cedric had hugged him when they parted, but then again, emotions were running quite high and it may have been a purely platonic gesture. Here lay the crux of Cedric's problem; he desperately wanted to tell Harry how he felt about him, but the fear of possible rejection meant he was afraid to do so. He didn't want to risk his chances of being friends with Harry on the off-chance that the attraction he felt was reciprocated. The truth was that he had no idea how Harry might react to the news that Cedric fancied him, he had been raised by Muggles after all and there was no guaranteeing that some of their ingrained homophobia wouldn't have influenced him, and although this conflicted with Harry's obvious kindness, Cedric had learned the hard way that when it came to sexuality, people's reaction will often surprise you. He wasn't at all sure that he could take that risk.

He paused outside Professor Moody's office on the second floor, thinking back to the conversation he had had with Harry in this very corridor over a week ago. He had wanted then to tell Harry what he felt about him, but they had been interrupted by Snape. After the events of the previous evening, Cedric was beginning to wonder what might have been if he had been able to be honest with Harry.

It was at that moment that he was distracted from his thoughts by the sound of footsteps coming from the office, clearly heading towards the door. Deciding that he didn't want to be caught loitering by Professor Moody, Cedric ducked round the corner and waited for the corridor to become clear again. He heard the door of the office open and close again, and waited for Professor Moody to pass him. But it wasn't Moody that passed by him, heading towards the Grand Staircase, it was a complete stranger. A man that Cedric had never seen before, in Hogwarts or anywhere else for that matter. Instinctively, Cedric followed him.

He remained several metres behind the stranger, meaning that he was unable to catch a glimpse of what he looked like. His clothes were unusual, however. From behind, Cedric could see that the man was dressed in a light brown tweed jacket, and he could also make out the hint of a red waistcoat and a black and brown striped tie. His sand-coloured plaid trousers ill-suited the white trainer shoes that he was wearing. On top of his head was perched a white panama hat. He was, Cedric could say comfortably, the most bizarrely dressed person that he had encountered at Hogwarts.

Cedric continued to follow the stranger down the staircase, and it was clear that he was heading for the Entrance Hall, probably meaning that whatever business he had had in Moody's office was now concluded. It was odd, Cedric thought, that despite all of Hogwarts' many defences, this complete stranger seemed to be able to wander around the castle completely unchallenged. He wasn't sure what it was exactly, but something about this man unnerved him. So much so that the hair on the back of his neck was standing up.

As they reached the Entrance Hall, Cedric ducked behind one of the great golden hourglasses that measured the level of House points, to avoid being seen just in case the man turned around. But the stranger did not look back, however, as he swept from the castle. Cedric watched him begin to stride across the grounds, before turning back and heading for the Hufflepuff dormitory. Of all his experiences of Hogwarts, this certainly counted as one of the most unusual. And when Cedric thought of strange and unusual events, he thought of Harry, and decided that he would tell his new friend about this as soon as possible.

What Cedric didn't see, however, was the stranger pause briefly as he headed towards the Forbidden Forest. The man bent down and lightly stroked a silver cat that had sidled up to walk beside him as he made his way across the grounds. He whispered something to the cat, before straightening up, and turning to survey the castle, with a sad smile on his face.

'And so it begins,' he muttered, before turning away again.


	5. Chapter 4 - Revelations

**Author Notes** – This was a difficult chapter to write, I've just finished it at 3 in the morning. I'm not hugely happy with it, but it does the job which is to advance the plot. Next chapter will see more mystery and intrigue and should be coming relatively soon.

**Rating** – T for language.

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER FOUR**

_Revelations_

Harry scarcely knew what to expect as he made his way to Professor Moody's office that Thursday evening, but as that was the time that he had been instructed to be there, he had no other choice but to honour his teacher's request. Ron and Hermione had had differing opinions, which in itself was nothing new, on what exactly Moody wanted of him. But what they both agreed on, however, was that Harry should probably do what he was told by the ex-Auror as they felt, and Harry agreed whole-heartedly with them, that Moody was not the sort of person that you wanted to get on the wrong side of. And so Harry found himself once again making the long journey down the Grand Staircase to the second floor.

I wish Cedric were going with me, Harry thought, as he emerged onto the second floor corridor and trudged along it towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts office. This was a thought that he had been having a lot in the last couple of days. He had not seen Cedric since they had parted that Monday evening with emotions running high. Harry had decided that it would probably be best to leave it at that for a few days so that they were both thinking more clearly when they next spoke. But at the same time Harry found that he missed his new friend, missed the banter that they had with one another, and indeed the level of intimacy that their conversations had involved the last time they had met. Most of this was nothing new, however; he always missed his best friends when they were not around. And Harry, for some reason he couldn't explain, already considered Cedric to be among his best friends. Despite having spent very little time together, the connection that they seemed to have was genuine, and Harry saw no reason why they couldn't become very close in the future.

Harry considered what this might be for his friendship with Ron and Hermione. Throughout all of the last three years, through all the highs and lows, it had always been the three of them together, sometimes it seemed against the entire world. How would they react to the news that Harry wanted to add a fourth member to their group? He hoped that they would be pleased, they certainly both seemed to get on with Cedric, but Harry couldn't help but have the uneasy feeling that perhaps it wouldn't be as simple as that. Harry decided that he wouldn't dwell on this particular point, Cedric was two years above them and in Hufflepuff after all, and he already had his group of friends. He was getting ahead of himself.

He took a deep breath before he reached out to knock on Professor Moody's office door, but before he could make contact with the wood, a voice called out from inside the office, and Harry remembered at once that Moody must have seen him coming in his Foe Glass. 'Just one moment Potter!' And then Harry heard a few whispered words from inside the office. He couldn't make out any specifics but Moody sounded irritable. After a few seconds, silence descended again and he heard Moody call out once more. 'Come in.'

Harry opened the door and stepped into the office. It looked exactly as it had when he had been there the previous week, all the magical instruments were still in place and the trunk was in the corner, its seven locks still in place. Moody himself was sat at his desk, taking a long swig from a hip flask, which he then set down the table and stared at Harry with his good eye and magical eye. 'Good,' he said, standing up. 'Now then Potter, I imagine you're wondering what you're doing here?'

'Er, yes sir,' Harry replied, deciding to keep his answers short and polite, so as not to annoy Moody, who had sounded as though he was in a bad enough mood already.

'Well then,' said Moody, as he limped out from behind his desk and stood inspecting his Foe Glass with his back to Harry. 'I have recently been in contact with several senior figures, both within and outside of the Ministry of Magic, and they have decided that it would be a good idea for you to receive extra Defence lessons from me in order to get you better prepared for the dangers that might be waiting for you out there.'

'What dangers?' asked Harry stupidly, immediately realising what a ridiculous question that was. He received a bark of laughter in reply.

'Well I hope your wand arm is quicker than your brain Potter, otherwise we have no hope at all. I assume you don't actually need me to answer that question.'

'No sir, sorry,' Harry said quickly. 'But I don't understand sir, I've been here for more than three years now, and they've never deemed this necessary before.'

'Times change Potter,' said Moody, turning to face him once more. 'After what happened at the Quidditch World Cup. This, and a few other things that need not concern you, has convinced the powers-that-be that you require extra training. And so extra training you will receive.' Moody clapped his hands together in a business-like fashion and continued. 'Let's start at the beginning shall we? Let's have a look at your wand.'

Harry's mind was racing at this point. Yes, what had happened at the World Cup certainly seemed to imply that Voldemort's followers were more active than they had been. But this whole story didn't square with what had happened the previous week, when Moody had seemed surprised, almost disappointed, that Harry had appeared in his office. Surely if Moody knew that he was going to be giving Harry extra lessons then he wouldn't have reacted in such a way. Suddenly he realised that Moody was looking at him expectantly. 'I'm sorry sir, what was that?'

'Pay attention Potter,' said Moody, sounding thoroughly exasperated. 'If you can't even maintain concentration for a few seconds, what chance have you got?' He paused, breathing deeply. 'I asked to inspect your wand, so hand it over.'

Harry felt uncomfortable at having to yield his wand, it was after all his only means of defence, but the way that Moody was looking at him helped to convince him that he had little choice. He reached into his robes, withdrew his wand and handed it over. Moody twirled it in his fingers, and held it close to his face. His magical eye moved quickly, examining the wand from every angle. 'Seems to be in order,' he concluded in the end. 'Though you should polish it more often, the finger-marks are disgraceful.' He handed it back.

'Now then,' continued Moody. 'I'm going to give you this.' He handed over a large and thick textbook, which Harry took. 'There's a list of page numbers on a piece of parchment in there. I want you to study those spell diagrams and practice the incantations and wand movements before the next time we meet.'

'When will that be sir?' Harry asked.

'Now then,' replied Moody, looking considerate for a moment. 'I think Tuesday would be good. And believe me Potter, I will know whether you've practiced these spells or not.' His tone was suddenly menacing. 'I hope I don't need to impress upon you the importance of this work. It could mean the difference between life and death. I will be teaching you things that your peers won't know, but that you need to know. And this is only going to work if you put in the work as well. Is that clear?'

'Yes sir,' Harry said. He knew that Moody could be intimidating, but at this point he was extremely uncomfortable. 'Shall I go now sir?'

'An excellent suggestion,' said Moody, and he turned to face the Foe Glass once more. Harry decided that this meant he was dismissed, and quietly left the office. After the door had closed, Moody turned to one of the dark corners of the room. 'I very much hope you know what you're doing. Because at this point, I don't think he stands a chance.'

A man emerged from the shadows and smiled from beneath his white panama hat. 'Don't underestimate the boy Alastor,' he said. 'He may yet surprise you.'

* * *

Harry was not surprised to see that Ron and Hermione were still awake and in the Common Room when he returned there ten minutes later. Ron was doodling on a scrap of parchment while Hermione was immersed in what looked like a mind-numbingly boring textbook. Harry scrambled through the portrait hole and moved quietly over to where they were sitting so that neither of them noticed that he had returned. He stood there silently for a few seconds and then cleared his throat loudly. Both of them jumped visibly, and the textbook came tumbling from Hermione's lap and landed on the floor with a load crash.

'Harry!' admonished Hermione. 'Don't do that! You frightened the life out of me.'

'Sorry,' said Harry, feeling genuinely apologetic. 'Couldn't resist.' He picked up the textbook and cast a glance at the title. It was written in Ancient Runes which Harry had wisely decided not to take for his OWLs. He handed it back to Hermione, who took it and placed it on the table beside the chair on which she was sitting. 'What have I missed?'

'Nothing,' said Ron. 'I've been hard at work but Hermione's just been procrastinating like mad. Who'd have thought it?'

'Ha, ha,' said Hermione sarcastically. 'In the hour you've been gone, Ronald here has managed to write the title of his essay...and he's misspelled it.'

Harry decided to intervene before this could develop into a fully-fledged argument. 'So then, who wants to hear what happened in Moody's office?' And without waiting for a reply he continued. 'It was weird just like last week. But the long and short of it is that the Ministry seems to have decided that I need extra Defence lessons and so Moody's going to be tutoring me from now in more advanced magic.'

'Oh,' said Ron. 'That's...pretty boring actually.'

'What are you talking about, boring? Don't you think it's weird that all of a sudden the Ministry seems to have decided I'm in so much more danger than before? Haven't they been paying attention to what's been happening here for the last three years?'

'Yes,' said Hermione, looking thoughtful. 'But what with everything's that been going on recently? You know, the stuff at the Quidditch World Cup, Bertha Jorkins and a few other notable people disappearing, the Ministry might be starting to think...you know?'

Harry smiled. How like Hermione to think along exactly the same line as their teachers. 'That's exactly what Moody said. I suppose that makes sense...' He thought back to what had happened last Monday. 'But what's weird is that last time I went to Moody's office he seemed surprised to see me, even though I thought he was the one that had asked for me with that note through the fireplace.'

'So, you think maybe he wasn't the one who sent the note?' asked Ron.

'Possibly,' replied Harry. 'But then why would anyone else send me a message asking me to go to Moody's office? Something here just doesn't make sense, but I can't put my finger on exactly what it is.' He stopped to think once more and then added absent-mindedly. 'I wonder what Cedric will make of this.'

'Cedric?' said Hermione, eyeing him suspiciously. 'Why Cedric?'

'Erm,' said Harry, suddenly realising what he had said. 'No reason really. It's just I saw him last time I went to Moody's office. He was on patrol I think.'

Hermione was looking uncomfortable, and Harry raised his eyebrows at her. 'I'm sorry Harry,' she said. 'I know you and Cedric seem to be getting on very well. But are you really sure that you should be talking to him about this?'

Harry was confused by this, he certainly hadn't expected Hermione to react like that. 'What do you mean by that?' he asked, his voice rising slightly. 'Are you saying you don't trust Cedric, or that you don't trust me to choose my friends wisely?'

Before Hermione could answer that, George had appeared at Harry's shoulder. 'Did I hear someone mention Cedric Diggory? Planning strategy for when we beat them at Quidditch later in the term?'

'Not at all,' said Hermione, before either Ron or Harry could spoke. 'It's just Harry's been spending a lot of time with Cedric recently, and I'm worried about it.'

Harry couldn't believe he was hearing this from Hermione. He had never expected her to behave like this. Was it possible that she was jealous that Harry was getting close to somebody else? He was about to open his mouth to reply but George cut in first. 'Spending a lot with Diggory are we Harry? Well, just be careful.'

'Why is everyone behaving like this?' Harry demanded, looking from Hermione to George and back again. 'Honestly, I know that's Cedric not in Gryffindor and all that, but you're going a bit far with this "be careful" bollocks aren't you? I mean it's not as if he's...I don't know what, are you seriously suggesting that Cedric could be dangerous?'

'Listen to me Harry,' said Hermione. 'I know that you were with him alone on Monday evening, and I just don't know whether spending so much time together is a good idea. You might give him the wrong impression.'

Harry just gaped at her. 'What do you mean, the wrong impression?'

'He's gay Harry,' said George shortly. 'And Hermione's worried that if you spend too much time alone with him, he might start thinking you want to be more than friends.'

This revelation hit Harry like a ton of bricks. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, trying to digest what he had just heard. He had known that he and Cedric were becoming close friends, but he had no idea that Cedric was gay. He'd never even considered the possibility. Before he knew what he was doing he was heading for the portrait hole once more, and before any of his friends could stop him, he had stormed through it, heading back to the Grand Staircase.

* * *

Harry raced down the stairs trying to find Cedric. He knew that the Hufflepuff would be on patrol this evening, and decided to start at the Hufflepuff Common Room and search from there. It was now way past his curfew but he didn't care, he was going to find Cedric if it was the last thing he did and Filch was certainly not going to get in his way. This resolve didn't quite work in practice, however, as he did dodge down a corridor when he saw Filch making his way up the staircase, and waited for him to pass before continuing down.

His mind was racing the whole time. He couldn't believe that he had had no idea about Cedric's sexuality when it was quite clear from Hermione and George's revelation that it was common knowledge. Why did no one think to tell him this before he had spent time with Cedric? And he also didn't want to believe that Cedric would have been trying to get close to him because he fancied him. But then he thought back to the previous week when they had opened up to each other, the way that Cedric had looked at him, touched him, and told Harry how much he admired him. Now those actions seemed very different, and Harry was terrified to think that Cedric might have been planning to make a move on him.

Sexuality was something that Harry had spent very little time thinking about if he was honest. His Aunt and Uncle were homophobic, he knew that from listening to their conversations at the dinner table. But Harry had never paid it much thought, he had never met a gay person as far as he knew, but he liked to think that he was certainly more open-minded and tolerant than his Muggle relatives. But at the same time, the thought that Cedric might be attracted to him bothered him a great deal, and he wasn't at all sure why. All he knew was that the idea that he might have confided so deeply in someone when all they were interested in was pulling him made him furious, and he was determined to confront Cedric and find out exactly what the hell he thought he was doing.

Fortunately, or not depending on your perspective, he didn't have to wait long, for he spotted Cedric heading back along the ground floor corridor towards the kitchens, where he knew the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room was located. Harry raced after him, and when he was certain he was a safe enough distance to call out without attracting any teachers, he called down the corridor: 'Cedric!'

Cedric turned round, having recognised the voice calling his name, with a wide smile on his face. 'Harry,' he said. 'I've been hoping to see you.'

'Really,' said Harry, and Cedric's smile faltered at the expression on his face, for Harry had suddenly felt incredibly angry. 'Well I've been looking for you.' He was trying to remain calm, but his heart was racing and his hands were shaking uncontrollably. 'I think we need to talk.'

He saw a worried look cross Cedric's face, who started to make his way towards Harry. He reached out his hand to touch Harry on the shoulder, but Harry backed away from his touch. Cedric pulled his hand away sharply, as though he had just received an electric shock. 'What is it?' asked Cedric, looking at him straight in the eyes. 'What's the matter? Tell me.'

Harry tried to choose his words carefully, but he still felt so angry. 'Why didn't...when we were together on Monday I told you some things that no one else knows.'

'Yes,' said Cedric. 'And you said you trusted me. I thought we trusted each other, that's why I opened up to you as well. What's wrong?'

'But you didn't trust me enough to tell me you were gay!' Harry exclaimed, slightly louder than he had intended. Cedric took a step back, and Harry realised that he had scared the older boy. But he wasn't going to stop. 'You invited out me flying...and then you made me tell you all about myself. What was that all about? Some sort of mind game maybe? Make me all vulnerable and then make your move. I can't believe I trusted you!'

Cedric looked as though he had just been punched in the stomach. Then his expression hardened into anger. 'So let me get this straight,' he said, his voice icy cold. 'You think that I lured you out to the Quidditch pitch so that...what? I could make a move on you?'

'Well, why else would you try and get me on my own like that?' Harry was beginning to regret some of what was coming out of his mouth, but it was too late to back out now.

'Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's just possible that I thought we could be friends and that you seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Seems I was wrong about that! So, you're basically telling me that you're all right with us being open and honest with each other when you think I'm straight but not now you know I'm gay. Why? Are you afraid if you spend too long round a gay guy you might suddenly find you're into it yourself?'

Harry's tempered flared again and before he knew what he was doing, he had hissed, 'Don't you even dare suggest that. I'm not a faggot like you.'

He knew instantly that he had gone way over the line and in hindsight he really should have expected the right hook, but at the time, Cedric's fist colliding with his mouth came as a complete surprise. He stumbled backwards and toppled over onto the ground, and tasted the metallic flavour of blood in his mouth. Cedric looked down at him with disgust. 'Looks like the faggot's not as weak as you thought. Stay away from me Harry.' And with that he turned back towards the Hufflepuff Common Room and a few seconds later was out of sight.

Harry struggled to his feet and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily and closed his eyes. He couldn't believe what had just happened. Why had he said that? It sounded like something his Uncle would say, not him. He remembered the look of hurt and disgust on Cedric's face and his eyes filled with tears. Suddenly he knew why he had reacted the way he did, and why he felt like this now.

'What the hell have I just done?' he whispered, and slid down the wall to sit on the floor, cradling his head in his hands.


	6. Chapter 5 - Nothing's the Same Anymore

**Author Notes** – This is by far the most important chapter so far, and also my favourite. Hope you like it, and trust me, all the mysteries will be answered later. Also, please review the chapters, I really want to hear what you think of them.

**Rating** – T for language.

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER FIVE**

_Nothing's the Same Anymore_

Harry lay awake that night, listening to the muffled sound of his heart beating, and running over and over in his head what had happened between him and Cedric. After Cedric had left him slumped against the wall, Harry had eventually managed to summon the strength to stagger back to Gryffindor tower. He had made it to his dormitory, where he had collapsed into bed, trying very hard to avoid sobbing into his pillow. He hadn't slept at all, however, and now that the sun was beginning to come up, he knew that it would soon be time to get up and face the outside world once more, which was a singularly unappealing prospect.

He couldn't believe that he had behaved the way that he had. Remembering the look of hurt on Cedric's face when Harry had verbally abused him made his gut clench horribly. On top of that he also had a throbbing pain in his mouth where Cedric had punched him, but he wasn't dwelling on this for he knew that he had deserved far worse than that. He had never thought he could be capable of such a thing, but it was no use trying to justify his actions by claiming that they were out of character. He was responsible for them, and however hard he tried to manufacture reasons and excuses, he get coming back to the same answer. Now, as the dawn was breaking, Harry finally understood.

Subconsciously, Harry was fairly sure that he had known for some time, but his brain had refused to accept it. It was probably as a result of his upbringing that Harry had never even entertained the notion that he might be gay, but now there was no hiding from it. He knew now that the reason he had reacted so viciously to Cedric's suggestion that he might be attracted to men was that Harry knew it be true, and he couldn't accept it. He had been scared, terrified even, that if it were to get out, he would become a pariah within the wizarding community, and even his closest friends would not accept him. For that was the problem with being Harry Potter, as soon as one person knew something about him, it wasn't long before everyone knew.

But most of all Harry was consumed with guilt over what he had done to Cedric. Harry had known for some time that he liked the Hufflepuff boy, and that it was different to how he liked Ron and Hermione, but only now was he beginning to realise just how much he liked Cedric. And now, because of his own stupidity and cowardice, there was every chance that Cedric would never want to speak to him again, and the dreadful thing was that Harry wouldn't have blamed him in the slightest if that were the case. He had really screwed things up, and he couldn't think of any way to put it right.

He heard Ron stir in the bed next to his, and Harry looked over at his bedside table to check his watch. It was seven, and so he decided that it was time to get up. It was a supreme effort to force himself into an upright position, but he managed to struggle to the bathroom thereafter, and considered his reflection in the mirror. By all accounts he looked an absolute mess, he had large dark blue bags under his eyes, significant growth under his chin, and a swollen lip with a significant amount of bruising around it. The one consolation was that he couldn't have looked any worse than he felt.

Breakfast that morning was an unpleasant experience. It was hardly surprising that many people raised their eyebrows at his dishevelled state, and that in itself didn't bother him, but he had been dreading having to explain what had happened to Ron and Hermione. He had managed to avoid Ron by conveniently being in the shower while his best friend was getting ready, but as soon as he sat down at the Gryffindor table, they had both reacted with shock at his appearance.

'Harry,' said Hermione. 'What happened to your lip? And where did you go last night? We were all really worried about you.'

This line of questioning had continued for some time, with Harry consistently deflecting so that he didn't have to answer, but eventually he had got tired of it and snapped, 'Look, I'd really rather not talk about it at the moment. Later maybe, but for now can we just get on with the day?' That had put a stop to the questions, but Hermione continued to watch him with a worried expression. 'What have we got today anyway?'

'Erm...' said Ron, reaching for his timetable. 'Divination this morning, that'll be a laugh a minute, and then Charms and Transfiguration later.'

Harry sighed. What he definitely didn't need right now was an hour and a half in Professor Trelawney's stiflingly hot classroom, with her predicting his imminent demise. Luckily, however, his body had finally succumbed to lack of sleep, and he had fallen asleep in the lesson with his head on his desk, and it had been twenty minutes before anyone had noticed.

* * *

That evening he sat alone in the Gryffindor common room, trying and failing to work on a Potions essay, about some rather unpleasant sounding poisons. Although he wasn't getting anywhere, he was determined to appear busy so as to avoid more questions from Ron and Hermione. This worked for a little while, and when Ron had announced he was going to bed, Harry thought he had succeeded, but a few minutes later, Hermione had wandered over and sat down in the chair next to him, looking at him seriously.

Harry decided to speak before she could say anything. 'I've got to finish this essay.'

She frowned. 'Oh come off it Harry, you've been staring at the same page of that textbook for the last half an hour. We only want to help you, you know.' Harry sighed, deciding that the game was up, and closed the book. 'Good,' she continued.

'I notice you sent Ron off to bed. Suppose you figured I'd rather talk to you?' She smiled and blushed a little. 'Well, I guess you were right. I'm not sure he'd be very understanding. I...er...didn't have a very good night yesterday.'

'Go figure,' replied Hermione, with a small smile. 'Did something happen between you and Cedric?' He raised his eyebrows. 'Well, it was sort of obvious where you were going when you stormed out the Common Room.'

Harry decided to come clean, and he told her everything that had happened between him and Cedric. She looked genuinely shocked when he mentioned the fact that Cedric had punched him, but also agreed with him that he had probably deserved it. 'I just can't imagine Cedric punching anyone,' she said. 'He must have been really angry.'

'Yeah,' Harry agreed, looking down at his feet feeling miserable. 'And now I'm really worried that I've ruined our friendship because of how stupid I was.'

'Harry,' said Hermione, looking him straight in his eyes. 'I want you to be honest with me now, because I've seen the way that you look at Cedric. Like on the Hogwarts Express you could barely keep your eyes off him.' She paused and then continued. 'Tell me the truth, is there more to this than you're telling me?'

Harry couldn't keep eye-contact with her, and so looked away, considering his options. He could lie and tell her that he only wanted to be Cedric's friend, and that he wasn't attracted to him at all. But in the end he decided that if he couldn't trust Hermione then he couldn't trust anyone. He nodded slightly and whispered, 'I...er...think I might be gay.' He still couldn't make eye-contact and so waited for some sort of reaction. The next thing he knew Hermione had reached over and wrapped her arms around him, cradling him gently. Harry reciprocated, and they stayed like this for some time, before eventually breaking apart.

'I think I owe you an apology Harry,' she said. 'For the way I behaved last night. What can I say, I was worried about you, and I didn't want to see you get hurt.'

'That's all right,' Harry replied, smiling slightly. 'It's good to know that I've got friends that'll watch out for me. And you don't mind that I might be gay?'

'Mind?' she asked. 'Of course I don't mind. As long as you're happy, I couldn't care less who you're with. And Cedric is an extremely attractive young man.'

'Yeah,' he said, nodding. 'Though after what happened last night, I doubt I'm on his list of favourite people right now. Besides, I don't know if I'm ready to tell him how I feel. Even if we hadn't argued, there's still no guarantee that he feels the same way, and I don't want to jeopardise our friendship.'

'Well, you're going to have to take a decision about that at some point, but I think for the moment, you should start by apologising and trying to mend your friendship. After that we can worry about what might happen later.'

Harry leaned back in his chair, and for the first time that day, relaxed slightly. He may not have sorted out the Cedric situation, but he felt as though some of the load had been lifted from his chest. He had been right to confide in Hermione, she always knew how to make him feel better. 'Do you mind if we don't tell Ron about this for the moment,' he said. 'I definitely will tell him soon, but I think one person is enough right now.'

She smiled. 'Of course, I'm not going to tell anyone until you're ready. It's your secret, not mine. But just remember this Harry, you may find the wizarding world a lot more tolerant and understanding than the Muggle world. Look it up.'

Harry smiled too. Now that Hermione was suggesting that he read more books, he knew that everything would carry on as before. He felt better.

* * *

Harry spent most of Saturday trying to come up with an elaborate plan that would allow him some time to talk to Cedric, but none were particularly forthcoming. In the end, he needn't have bothered, because as he was leaving the Great Hall with Ron and Hermione to head back to Gryffindor tower after dinner, he almost collided with Cedric who was hurrying in the opposite direction. Cedric stopped and looked at him with an unfathomable expression.

'Oh dear,' said Hermione. 'I've just remembered I've left something at the table. You'd better come with me to get it Ron,' and she escorted him back into the Great Hall. Harry smiled as Ron made disgruntled sounds of protest as he was led away.

'Hi,' said Harry, wishing that Cedric could say something. 'I...was wondering if I could speak to you for a minute?'

Cedric continued to look at him for a moment before turning away without a word. Harry stood frozen for a second, wondering what on earth to do, as Cedric began to walk towards the Hufflepuff Common Room. He decided to just take the risk. 'Please,' he called after Cedric. 'Just let me explain!' He didn't care about the strange looks he received from people passing, he was just glad that Cedric stopped and looked back at him.

'Five minutes,' he said. 'And this better be good.'

'Thanks,' said Harry. 'Er...shall we go for a walk in the grounds?' Cedric shrugged, which Harry assumed meant "yes", and so he led the way out of the Entrance Hall and onto the giant lawns that surrounded the castle. He tried to decide how to start the conversation, and settled on something very mundane. 'How was your day?'

This was clearly a mistake as Cedric bristled. 'Cut the crap if you don't mind Harry, I'm really not in the mood. Either get on with explaining why you verbally abused me or forget about it. I've got stuff to do.'

OK, Harry thought, not exactly the most positive start in the world. It was obvious that Cedric was still really angry, so Harry knew that what he said next had to be good. He decided on the truth. 'You remember earlier this week when you told me that you were afraid all the time. Well the truth is, so am I.' This appeared to attract Cedric's attention, as he looked at Harry and raised his eyebrows, as if inviting him to continue. 'The truth is that I was scared, scared of how I felt. You see...the truth is that...' And at the last minute, he found he couldn't go through with it. He couldn't tell Cedric how he felt.

'Well?' said Cedric, beginning to look annoyed once more. 'What is the truth?'

'I don't have any explanation,' Harry said in the end. 'I guess I just freaked out, and I'm so, so sorry about it. Your friendship means a lot to me and then when I found out you were gay, and after everything that had happened on Monday, I was terrified.'

'Of what?' demanded Cedric. 'What on earth did you think I was going to do?'

Harry's mind was working at a million miles an hour, and looking at Cedric, he had the feeling that his was as well. If he wasn't going to be honest then what else could he say? There was no other decent explanation. 'I don't know.'

'You don't know?' asked Cedric. 'You came to find me on Thursday night, and started ranting and raving about how you had trusted me and all that, and you called me a "faggot" and you don't know why?'

'I'm really sorry Cedric,' said Harry, and he could feel tears appearing in his eyes again. Damn it, why did this have to happen like this? 'Believe me, I've been feeling so terrible ever since then, as soon as I said it I knew how badly I'd screwed up. I'm so sorry.' He looked at the ground, feeling a tear run from his eye that he didn't want Cedric to see.

Several seconds passed in silence, with Harry staring resolutely at the ground, trying to hold back any more tears, and then he felt Cedric's hand on his shoulder, and he looked up into the older boy's face. Cedric smiled at him. 'I forgive you Harry,' he said. 'I understand. You were raised by Muggles, I know how they are. It's not your fault, and you're clearly sorry, I just wanted to hear you say it.'

Harry gulped. He couldn't believe that Cedric could be so understanding, or that he could have misunderstood the reasons for Harry's behaviour so much. He thought it was all about Harry's upbringing, did he really have no idea that it was because Harry was attracted to him? Harry had what he wanted, Cedric had forgiven him, and somehow he felt even worse than he had when Cedric had been furious with him. He knew now that he had to settle for less than what he wanted and so he said, 'Do you think we can be friends again?'

'Yes Harry, we can be friends again,' replied Cedric, and his smile made Harry's heart ache terribly. 'That's all I want...to be your friend. You don't need to worry about anything else. Now come on, let's get back to the castle.'

* * *

They had parted in the Entrance Hall, and Cedric had been sure to reassure Harry that everything was fine now and that they were friends once more. As he made his way back to the Hufflepuff Common Room, Cedric reflected on what Harry had said, and more importantly, what he had been unable to say. He was fairly certain that Harry had been trying to tell Cedric that he liked him, and that he wanted to be more than friends, but hadn't been able to go through with it. Cedric could recognise the signs of someone struggling desperately with their sexuality, he had seen them once before. He knew that Harry must be feeling terrible, and so had decided to intervene to give him more time. Cedric understood how difficult it was to accept who you were, and he didn't want to put any more pressure on Harry than he needed to. Even the slightest suggestion that they might have some sort of future was enough for Cedric at the moment. He was quite pleased with what he had come up with about Harry's upbringing, it sounded so completely plausible, but Cedric knew full well that there was only one possible reason for Harry's behaviour, he had had an inkling at the time but the conservation they had just shared had confirmed it. Harry Potter liked him.

When Cedric opened the door to his dormitory, he found James in there lying on his bed and reading a book. James looked over at him. 'What are you smiling about?' Cedric realised suddenly that he must have been grinning all the way from the Entrance Hall. Great, he thought, people are going to start thinking I'm weird.

'Nothing much,' he replied, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. 'It's just I've had a good evening...for a change.'

James smirked and sat up on his bed. 'I recognise that smile. It's the same one you had last year, you've found a man haven't you?'

'Not necessarily,' Cedric said. 'But since your deductive powers are just too strong then, yes, I may have done. But there's no point asking me who because I can't tell you.'

'Well, well, well. Little Cedric's finally going to be a man...or have a man, or whatever the correct terminology is. And he likes you too right?'

'I'm fairly sure he does,' Cedric answered honestly. 'I just think he needs a bit more time. He's not quite there yet.' Cedric smiled and flopped down on his bed. He knew now that Harry liked him, now the only thing left was to decide when the best time would be to do something about it. He could hardly believe it, though. Harry Potter liked him.

* * *

Harry's mood had lifted slightly by the time he was making his way down to the grounds for Quidditch training that Sunday evening. Although his conversation with Cedric had ended in a less than ideal outcome, they were at least on good terms again, and, as Harry reminded himself, there would be plenty of time in the future to consider where they go from here. It was in this new optimistic frame of mind that he was hurrying down the Grand Staircase with his Firebolt slung over his shoulder. Angelina was certainly a hard taskmaster, as this extremely unusual Sunday training regime showed, but he was looking forward to getting out on his broom again, it always helped clear his head. It had been a difficult few days and he was looking forward to spending some time doing the thing he enjoyed most.

The training session went well, the entire team was performing well, which kept Angelina off their backs. She had been worried ever since it had been announced that the first match of the season was going to be brought forward, and they had only four weeks to prepare for it. Worse still was they were yet to find a permanent replacement for Oliver Wood as Keeper, and the lack of eligible candidates was beginning to worry the rest of the team. But they were managing quite well, and by the time they had finished that evening, Angelina was complimenting them all on their excellent performances.

Harry, having decided to have a decent soak in the changing room shower, was the last to leave. He wandered back across the grounds, enjoying the September sunset, and for the first time in a while, felt genuinely peaceful. It was becoming easier with every passing moment to accept who he was, and how he felt about Cedric, and with this came a growing confidence, he felt comfortable in his own skin for the first time in a long while. He had finally accepted his sexuality, the next step involved everyone else accepting it, but he wasn't thinking about that at the moment. That would come later.

As he made his through the Entrance Hall, however, something completely unexpected, and rather shocking, happened. He paused briefly to look at the great hourglasses, noting that Gryffindor was currently in second place, a little bit behind Ravenclaw, and as he was turning away once again, there was a blaze of blue light that emanated from a spot about five feet in front of him. It was so bright that Harry was forced to close his eyes and shield them. He heard something hit the ground, and opened his eyes once more. To his utter astonishment, Cedric stood before him. But not the Cedric that Harry remembered; this one looked extremely dishevelled, his robes were torn in several places, and he was clutching his side, which Harry realised to his horror a moment later, was bleeding quite heavily.

'Harry,' whispered Cedric, staring at him. And then he rushed forward and embraced Harry in a hug. Completely nonplussed, Harry returned the hug, and Cedric clutched him even tighter. Then he pulled away and stared at him.

'What are you doing here?' asked Cedric. 'You're supposed to be...' and then his eyes fixed on Harry's mouth, where his lip was still swollen. 'How did that happen?'

Before he could respond, Cedric staggered forward and fell into Harry's arms, clearly delirious. Harry just managed to keep him upright, which was a struggle considering how much bigger the older boy was. Cedric regained his composure a little bit a moment later, and Harry took a chance to examine his injuries. 'Come with me,' Harry said quickly. 'We'd better get you to the Hospital Wing.'

'No,' said Cedric quickly, and Harry stared at him. 'I just need to sit down, I can deal with this lot. Let's get to a deserted classroom.'

Harry had no idea what was going on, but he did as Cedric asked, and supported him along the ground floor corridor until they came to the Transfiguration classroom. Harry checked that it was empty, before helping Cedric inside. They made their way gingerly to one of the desks, and Harry lowered Cedric down into one of the chairs gently. 'Right,' said Harry. 'You just rest a moment, I'm going to deal with that wound.'

Harry looked around the room for something he could use to stop the flow of blood. He saw a handkerchief on Professor McGonagall's desk and quickly grabbed it. It looked clean, and so he pressed it to where Cedric's robes were torn, exposing the large gash on his side. Cedric was breathing heavily, but he didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. 'Thank you,' he whispered, and ruffled Harry's hair. This unexpected display of affection surprised Harry, but he let it go, considering the state that Cedric was in.

After a while the bleeding stopped, and Cedric directed his wand at the wound, and a series of stitches appeared in place, binding it closed. Harry used a cleaning spell on the blooded handkerchief and returned it to the desk, before kneeling down before Cedric, who was looking at him intently, all his alertness seemingly returned. 'Listen to me Harry, this is very important. How did you get that bruised lip?'

'Well, I don't like bringing this up, but you did punch me,' replied Harry, surprised that Cedric was asking. Not only should he know full well where it had come from, Cedric was being unusually tactless by bringing it up so soon after the event.

Cedric looked genuinely shocked, however. 'Oh my God,' he whispered. 'When was this?'

'Thursday evening. Don't you remember? We had an argument, and I said...erm, I said something I shouldn't have done.'

'Yes,' said Cedric, as though he suddenly understood. 'I remember it well.' Then he added in a whisper to himself. 'So it was true what he said then, time distortion.'

'What?' asked Harry, having no idea what Cedric was going on about. But now that he looked at this Cedric, Harry had the feeling that he looked somehow older than the one he knew, but that was completely ridiculous.

'Never mind,' said Cedric quickly, looking away. 'Oh dear, this is going to be a bit difficult to explain. Harry, this is going to sound completely absurd, and I'm not entirely sure whether it's even true, but I'm from the future.'

Harry gaped at him. 'What do you mean? How did you get here?' Then he remembered his experiences last year. 'Was it a Time Turner or something like that?'

'Erm...sort of,' Cedric replied, which wasn't particularly helpful. 'Oh dear, this is going to be a problem I think. I'm not entirely sure I should be talking to you. It might alter the future.' Cedric brought a hand up and caressed Harry's cheek, looking into his eyes for the first time. 'Oh Harry, it is true isn't it? I can see it in your eyes, the innocence that went away a long time ago.' This made the hair on the back of Harry's neck stand up. This was just too weird, he wasn't sure he could handle it, and so he broke away and stood up.

'This is ridiculous,' he said, looking down at Cedric. 'How can you be from the future? You're going to have to give me some answers.'

Cedric was shaking his head. 'I can't. Don't you realise what might happen if I do? You remember what happened with the Time Turner last year.'

'What?' said Harry. 'How did you know about that? I didn't tell you.'

'You will,' replied Cedric. 'Do you believe me now that I'm from your future? How else would I know about that? And the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, and the Philosopher's Stone, unless you'd told me?'

Harry knelt down again, and Cedric took his hand. 'Harry, you've got so much ahead of you. I wish I could tell you about it, it's going to be brilliant. And terrible, and terrifying. Nothing's the same anymore.'

'Story of my life really,' he said, and he looked into Cedric's eyes, and down at his side. 'What happened to you? How did you get into this state? Or is that another thing you can't tell me?' Cedric nodded slightly, and looked at him, as though asking Harry to trust him. 'All right,' Harry continued. 'I trust you.'

Cedric suddenly clutched his stomach, as though in terrible pain, and let out a cry. Harry leaped backwards as blue light began to pour from his eyes and mouth. A moment later it subsided again. 'What the hell was that?' asked Harry.

'I'm being pulled back again,' replied Cedric. 'Back to the present. It gets stronger every time, I think the next one might be the last. Hopefully won't be too long now, I think I'm needed back in the present.'

Harry was trying to process exactly what was going on. If it was true that this Cedric was from the future, clearly something must be terribly wrong for him to have been thrown through time like this, especially in the state he had been in when he had appeared. But Harry really had no idea how such a thing could have occurred, even in the worst sort of duel, he had never heard of something like this happening. He looked up at Cedric who seemed to guess what he was thinking. 'Don't try and understand Harry,' he said. 'It's too complicated, and believe me, you'll know soon enough.'

'And you can guarantee me that can you?' Harry asked.

'I hope so, I'm going to tell you as soon as I get back.' Harry digested this piece of information. Clearly that meant that they were still close in the future. Maybe even together. He couldn't be certain of anything, but the way that this older Cedric was behaving gave him every reason to believe that whenever it was he came from they might be more than friends.

'You know,' said Harry. 'This has to rank among one of the weirdest things that's ever happened to me in this place.'

Cedric doubled over once more, clutching his stomach. Harry could see a faint blue glow around him, and knew that it was soon to be time for him to go. 'Listen to me carefully Harry. I haven't got much time, and there's some things I need to tell you...because, to be honest, I might not get another chance.' This unnerved Harry, but he let it pass as clearly time was short. 'First things first, you have to promise me that you're not going to tell anyone that you've seen me. That's really important.'

Harry paused before answering, considering Ron and Hermione, and even Dumbledore. Surely he would know what was going on. But he trusted Cedric. 'All right,' he said. 'All right, if that's you want.'

'Good, thank you. And believe me when I say you will understand why. There's...something else.' Harry couldn't help noticing that the blue glow was getting brighter, and Cedric was clearly in a great deal of pain. 'Harry, don't trust the man in the white hat, he's not everything he appears.' This made no sense to Harry whatsoever and he opened his mouth to say so. 'No time, because there's something else.' Cedric was clearly struggling to stay now. 'I need you to know something, that you'll remember whatever happens in the future.'

'What?' said Harry, though he could guess what was coming.

'Harry,' said Cedric, leaning forward and taking Harry's head in his hands. 'I love you.' And before he knew what was happening, Cedric was kissing him, and he was kissing back. It was the most wonderful sensation, and Harry leaned into it. He could tell that Cedric was pouring his all into this kiss, and Harry reciprocated as best he could. Harry closed his eyes and focused on the sensation of Cedric's lips, and his tongue scraping across Harry's teeth. A moment later, Harry felt the sensations stop. Knowing what had happened, he opened his eyes and found that Cedric had vanished.

Harry straightened up, and noticed that a photograph had fallen from Cedric's pocket when he had collapsed into the chair. He bent down and picked it up, looking at it. It was a picture of himself, smiling broadly, with his arm around Cedric, who looked happier than Harry had ever seen him. He pocketed it, muttering to himself, 'Somehow I always knew that my first kiss was going to be unorthodox.'


	7. Chapter 6 - A Love Interest

**Author Notes** – Another chapter done, and another one I'm very proud of. A lot happens in this chapter, and luckily there's a positive ending. This is just the beginning, though, plenty more to come. Please read and review, I'd like to know what you think.

**Rating** – T for language.

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER SIX**

_A Love Interest_

That Tuesday evening, Harry was once again sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room, studying a thick textbook. His first lesson with Moody was just over an hour away, and because of everything that had happened that weekend, he had not properly prepared, and so now he was desperately trying to glean some information on the spell diagrams that Moody had instructed him to study, in a frantic bid to avoid his teacher's wrath. He wasn't having much luck, some of the spells were very complicated, and he was having a great deal of trouble deciphering what most of them were supposed to do. He had managed to discern that Moody wanted him to learn the Stunning spell and the Impediment jinx, but the more complicated ones remained beyond his comprehension. Unfortunately, Hermione was in the library, and so he wasn't able to ask for her help.

He glanced over at Ron, who was engaged in what looked like a brutally competitive game of Exploding Snap with Seamus and Dean, and Harry suspected from Ron's smouldering eyebrows that he wasn't winning. Harry wished very much that he could go over and join them, but he knew that he had to focus; Moody's attitude to him had been less than ideal the last time they had met, and Harry didn't want to risk antagonising him further through lack of work. Although, at this late stage, he was beginning to question whether continuing to sit there staring at the intersecting lines and symbols was doing any good at all. He looked at the cover of the book, silently cursing the author for making the spells so complicated.

Cedric would be able to help me, he thought absent-mindedly. Harry had not seen the Hufflepuff boy since the bizarre encounter he had had after Quidditch practice on Sunday, which, despite the fact that it still fascinated and confused him, he had been forced to put to the back of his mind to concentrate on other things. He was determined, however, to get to the bottom of what happened, but had decided to respect older Cedric's wishes and not tell anyone what he had seen. He knew that they might be able to help, but as Cedric had asked him to do something, he wasn't going to ignore that. He found himself wishing, not for the first time, that Cedric was in the same house, because then at least they would be able to talk about Moody and everything else, even if he was sworn to secrecy about that. I could send him a message, he though, gazing into the fireplace.

A loud bang coming from the vicinity of Ron, Seamus and Dean brought Harry back into the present, and he looked down again at the textbook. He had a suspicion that he was looking at some sort of defensive spell, but he couldn't yet determine the incantation or exact purpose. He looked up again, this time at the clock above the fireplace, and saw that his lesson with Moody was in twenty minutes. Sighing heavily, he got to his feet, tucked his book under his arm, and headed for the portrait hole, passing Ron on the way, who gave him an encouraging thumbs-up. Harry grimaced in reply and left the Common Room.

He trudged down the Grand Staircase, feeling all the time that this just wasn't going to go very well. He began to formulate some excuses in his head, but they all needed him to explain why he had been so preoccupied over recent days, and his backup plan of blaming Ron and Quidditch practice probably wouldn't go down very well.

As he left the staircase and joined the second floor corridor, Harry couldn't help noticing a tapping sound, accompanied by footsteps, as if someone was walking with a cane, but it sounded far too light to be Moody's staff. He paused and listened intently. The sounds got gradually louder, and then Harry heard a door opening and closing again. He turned the corner and looked down the corridor, but he had no idea which room whoever it was had gone into. 'Mmm, I wonder who that was,' he muttered to himself. Then he remembered why he was there, and headed for Moody's office. He knocked and was told to enter.

The office looked the same as it had last time. Moody was sitting at his desk with his legs, both real and wooden, resting on the table in front of him. He watched Harry intently as he approached the desk, and nodded at the chair opposite him. Harry sat down, feeling nervous, and waited for his teacher to speak. Moody continued to look at him for a few moments, and then got to his feet and removed his wand from his pocket. Harry's hand involuntarily hovered over his own. Was he expecting Moody to attack him? He wasn't sure.

Moody seemed to notice this. 'Good, he said, with a sharp laugh. 'At least you seem to have a natural suspicion of everyone. Perhaps there's some hope after all.'

'Erm...thank you sir,' said Harry, though he wasn't at all sure that this was a complement.

'Now then Potter,' continued Moody. 'I tasked you with studying some spell diagrams, some of which I acknowledge were very advanced for someone of your age. I trust that you had some success with them?'

Harry shifted uncomfortably, choosing his words carefully. 'A little sir,' he replied. 'I got the Stunning spell and the Impediment jinx, but the defensive spell...'

Moody glanced over the corner of the room and frowned, before looking at Harry once more. 'Well I suppose with everything that's going on at the moment, I shouldn't have expected much more.' Harry, who had been bracing himself for a bollocking, was surprised by this attitude, it didn't seem like Moody at all. 'So then Potter, we may as well practice the spells you've discovered. Let's start with the Stunning Spell. This is one of the most useful spells in a wizard's duelling set, as it is simple to cast, and very effective. Let's see how you do.'

Moody flicked his wand, and a target appeared on the wall above his trunk. 'You know the incantation I take it?' Harry nodded, having managed to decipher it earlier that day. 'Good. Now then, let's see how accurate you are.' Harry drew his wand, concentrating hard on the target, and prepared to cast the spell.

* * *

They spent over an hour practising the same spell, until Harry had been able to hit any spot on the target on command. Moody had then proceeded to instruct him to cast the spells at Moody himself to see if he could get any past his defences. Harry had been unable to do so, every time he cast the spell, his teacher had deflected it and ordered him to try again. Now Harry was completely exhausted, and he had yet to successfully stun the Professor.

'I think that will do for tonight Potter,' Moody said, and Harry lowered his wand gratefully and slumped into a chair. 'Tiring isn't it?' Moody continued, and Harry nodded without saying anything. 'Good, because there's no respite in the real world, and if you drop your guard for even a moment because of tiredness then that's it.'

'Yes sir,' Harry replied wearily. 'Constant vigilance and all that.'

A small smile appeared at the corner of Moody's scarred mouth, but soon disappeared again. 'Quite right Potter,' he said, and sat down himself. 'Perhaps to someone as young as you, it seems harsh, even paranoid, but when you've been around as long as I have, you'll understand what I'm talking about.'

'Believe me sir I do, I've been through a few things myself.' He paused, feeling a little braver. 'Tell me sir, are you ever afraid of anything?' He remembered talking to Cedric, and his confession that he was afraid all the time, and Harry thought back to his conversations with Lupin last year about the fear Harry had had of the Dementors. Fear had played such a huge part in his life, from the fear of his relatives onwards. Could there really be anything that frightened the famous Auror in front of him?

Moody let out a bark of laughter in response. 'A good question my boy,' he said, and Harry noted the more affectionate term of address. 'Of course, only a fool is never afraid. What matters is that you don't let it control your actions, because that's when you make mistakes. Yes I get frightened, but I'm always in control.' Harry nodded, understanding exactly what Moody meant. 'Now then Potter, you'd better be going. Continue to study that defensive spell diagram. You did well today, but there's a lot of work still to be done.'

Harry smiled at the compliment, and feeling pleased with himself, got up to leave the office. As he walked through the door, Moody called after him, 'You might even recruit Miss Granger to help you, I'm sure she'd be a valuable asset.' Harry smiled as he left the room, knowing that he intended to go straight to Hermione for help.

After the door had closed, Moody swivelled in his chair to face the man who had appeared from the corner of the room, focusing on him with both his normal and magical eye. He glanced dismissively at the umbrella that the man was leaning on, and then back to his face. 'Are you going to come to all of these and observe in silence? Judging my teaching style perhaps?' His tone, however, was light-hearted.

'I would never dream of presuming,' replied the man, smiling from beneath his white panama hat. 'Your teaching style is unique and unrivalled.' He padded across the room and examined his features in the Foe Glass. His curly brown hair was particularly untidy at this particular moment, and his red silk tie was off centre. He corrected it and turned back to Moody. 'Went quite well I thought. Do you think he'll be able to cope?'

'I don't think he has much choice does he?' said Moody, watching the visitor carefully. 'Whether he's ready or not, he's going to be involved.'

'Indubitably, but I'd feel better knowing that he was at least a little prepared. I don't think Dumbledore would have agreed to this if he had known that Harry was going to be unprepared. Not that he could've done much about it in any case,' the man added as an afterthought. 'That's why I suggested bringing you here, an Auror such as yourself is the perfect candidate to train Harry for what's to come.'

Moody frowned obviously. 'And that's the only reason?'

The man's smile faltered, and he looked at Moody with his deep grey eyes. 'Of course,' he said, in a mildly dangerous tone. 'What other reason would there be?'

'You can see why I ask of course,' said Moody. 'You're full of secrets, half-truths and misdirection. You won't even use your real name, will you "Smith"?'

'And what do you think the reaction would be if I did?' the man interjected, looking thoroughly annoyed. 'Do you really think people would believe me? I can hardly produce Salazar Slytherin to collaborate my story can I?' He turned away, and began to examine Moody's trunk, caressing each of the locks delicately one at a time, as if trying to establish their secrets. There was a silence for several seconds and then he turned back to Moody again. 'I'd better be going, I've got a lot to do and I've got to be at St Mungo's before it's too late.' With that, he started towards the door.

'Of course,' replied Moody, raising a barely-visible eyebrow. 'You've made your next move then I take it?' He gestured over to the dark corner of the room.

'Naturally, and it's a particularly devious one,' the visitor said, a twinkle returning to his green-blue eyes. 'Good day Alastor, I'll let you know when I come visiting again. I may even drop in on Professor Trelawney next time, I've been meaning to speak with her.'

* * *

Cedric always enjoyed breakfast at Hogwarts. It was, as his mother always told him, the most important meal of the day. And the sheer choice of dishes available on any given day meant that Cedric followed this doctrine carefully. That particular morning, he had opted for a large bowl of porridge followed by toast. God, he thought to himself suddenly, my life really isn't interesting enough if I get excited about a wide selection of breakfast cereals.

He glanced over at James, who was tucking into a large plate of bacon and eggs, and smiled. Cedric was always careful to eat a balanced diet, but James, like many people who came to Hogwarts, had decided that given the chance to eat anything and everything he wanted, he would make the most of that opportunity. Cedric, thankfully, had been rewarded for his dietary discipline with a healthy weight, decent muscle mass and, most importantly for him, clear skin that was rarely blemished with spots. He had seen how some of his classmates had struggled with acne, and was privately grateful that he had been spared such a fate.

James looked at up, and Cedric realised that he had been staring at him unthinkingly. 'Can I help you, or are you just daydreaming about me again?' asked James.

Cedric grinned. 'You know, for a supposedly straight man, you spend a lot of time wondering whether I fancy you. Anyone would think you were waiting for me to say yes.' James begin to chew very slowly, signalling his annoyance. 'Come to think of it, have you ever actually had a girlfriend?'

'Ouch,' replied James. 'That's a low blow. Just because we're not all smitten like you -

'I'm not smitten for goodness sake,' interrupted Cedric. 'Honestly, the lack of excitement in your life is no reason to project excitement onto mine. I have an interest in a young man that may or may not be something, let's just wait and see.'

'And yet you still won't tell me who this man is. This tall, dark handsome stranger who has knocked you off your feet?'

'I told you, it's not my place to tell you who it is,' said Cedric, but he involuntarily glanced over at the Gryffindor table to see if he could spot Harry. Luckily, James didn't notice this movement. 'He's not ready yet. One day maybe, but not now.'

'All right, I get it. Still, it hasn't stopped you being all dreamy the last few days. You've barely paid attention in lessons, and when you're not paying attention, people notice.'

Cedric thought about this. It was true that he hadn't been concentrating properly since the weekend, but that was understandable considering the situation. This was the first time that he had a reasonable prospect of getting close to someone since...well, since what had happened last year. Besides, he might act very mature, but the truth was he was still a teenager, and he was entitled to become infatuated every now and again. But, on the other hand, he didn't want his work to suffer.

'You're doing it again,' said James, and Cedric raised his eyebrows at him quizzically. 'Staring off into the distance. You're clearly thinking about him. Honestly, you're terrible conversation when this happens. I'm off to my lesson.' And with that, James pushed his plate away and strode out of the Hall. Cedric waved to him as he left before returning to his food.

At that moment, the post arrived and Cedric looked hopefully up at the ceiling. It had been a while since he had received a letter from home and he wanted to hear from his mother soon. He was heartened to see his owl flying towards him and drop a small note onto his lap. Cedric didn't recognise the writing, but he had a feeling he might know who it was from, and so flipped it over. He was right.

_Dear Cedric,_

_Hope you're having a great week, mine's been a little eventful and I was hoping we could get together so I can tell you all about it. If that's all right with you, why don't we meet after dinner in the Entrance Hall and go for another walk in the grounds?_

_Let me know. Look forward to hearing from you,_

_Harry x_

Cedric noted the kiss at the end of the note and his heart lifted a little. He couldn't wait to meet up with Harry again, though he hadn't expected the younger boy to ask him, at least not for a little while longer. He smiled and quickly scribbled an affirmative reply to the note, and attached it to his owl to take the Gryffindor table. Glancing at his watch, Cedric realised that he was going to be late for his first lesson, and so quickly finished his breakfast and left the Hall, feeling excited and nervous about the evening to come.

* * *

Harry waited nervously in the Entrance Hall that evening. He had been looking forward to this ever since Cedric had agreed to meet him, but he couldn't help feeling a little bit apprehensive. He felt that way every time he met up with Cedric, which Harry assumed was perfectly normal when you fancied someone. What made it even worse was that after the events of the weekend, Harry knew that Cedric would fancy him back at some point, but he wasn't sure whether he did yet. Even so, he had decided, it was time to take the risk.

He had told Hermione what he was planning, and she had been characteristically supportive, but also, like any excitable teenager, extremely giggly about the whole thing, so much so that Ron had kept asking her what she was smiling about all day. Harry couldn't put into words how much Hermione had helped him in the last few days, she had simultaneously fulfilled the role of supportive parent, friend and enthusiastic matchmaker all at the same time. Not for the first time, Harry thought about how lucky he was to have her as a friend.

A few minutes later, Cedric came strolling out of the Great Hall. Harry considered him for a moment; he had always known how good-looking the older boy was, but now that Harry truly knew how he felt about Cedric, he looked even more attractive than before. He was truly stunning, and Harry once again registered disbelief that someone so beautiful might possibly be interested in him. Cedric smiled widely, and Harry couldn't help beaming back, hoping desperately that he didn't look weird.

'Hello there,' said Cedric. 'Now after the day I've had, that's the smile I like to see.' He clapped Harry on the shoulder, which gave him a thrill of excitement. Just calm down, he thought to himself, you're becoming ridiculous now.

'Well I'm glad to see my clumsy attempts at smiling are favourable to someone,' Harry replied. 'Shall we?' he added, gesturing towards the double doors that led to the ground. Cedric smiled and grabbed Harry's arm, leading him forward. OK, Harry thought, this was a little more forward than I was expecting, but at least it's progress. He allowed Cedric to guide him out of the castle and towards the lake. Eventually they came to a halt beneath a large cedar tree by the lake, where the giant squid had been known to frequent. Luckily it was nowhere to be seen and so they sat down, looking out across the lake towards the horizon, where the sun was beginning to set. It was a beautiful sight.

'Ah,' said Cedric, gazing outwards. 'I love the September sunset. It just creates such a peaceful atmosphere. Winter's coming though, there's a chill in the air.'

Harry nodded, unsure of what to say. Now that he was here, alone with Cedric, he suddenly had an attack of nerves again. He steadied himself, trying to regain his confidence. 'I like the winter,' he decided on in the end. 'I love Christmas at Hogwarts.'

Cedric looked at him. 'Oh yeah, I forgot that you don't go home at Christmas. What's it like here then? Does Professor McGonagall get drunk?'

'Erm...I think she might have done last year,' Harry replied. 'It was really fun actually, there were only about twelve of us on Christmas day and so we all had Christmas dinner at the same table.' He suddenly adopted a whisper. 'Don't tell anyone, but I actually heard Snape laugh at a Christmas cracker joke.'

'Blimey,' said Cedric, smiling. 'It must have been either the funniest joke in history, or a particularly dark one.' He paused. 'I can't believe we're talking about Christmas already.'

'Yeah,' agreed Harry. 'Sorry, shouldn't have brought it up. But it is one of my favourite times of year. At least it is now,' he added darkly, remembering the miserable Christmases that he had had at his Aunt and Uncle's. He saw a flash of concern in Cedric's eyes and decided to change the subject. 'How's Quidditch training going then?'

The conversation continued like this for some time, and the sun slowly descended in the sky, until it was just above the horizon line, and darkness was falling quickly. Harry realised that curfew would be coming soon and they would have to part, but there were things he still wanted to talk about. He decided to go straight for the plunge. 'So,' he said, in a matter-of-fact tone. 'When did you realise that you were...you know...?'

Cedric, who had been silently watching the lake for a few minutes, started and looked over at him. 'Do you really want to know?' Harry nodded earnestly, and so Cedric turned so that they were facing each other. 'Well, when I was about twelve, I realised that I fancied one of my friends. It was bad, Harry, really bad. I was ashamed, I couldn't believe that this was happening to me. I felt like I was letting my family down, my friends down. But the feelings wouldn't go away, they just kept getting stronger.'

Harry nodded, feeling both sympathy for Cedric but also relief that others knew what he, Harry, was going through. 'It got really bad when I was thirteen,' Cedric continued. 'I got really depressed, and it was affecting my work and everything. You know that on my birthday when they brought out the cake and told me to make a wish, I prayed that gay Cedric would just go away.' Harry winced, imagining how painful that must have been. 'But he didn't. And over time, I began to accept myself for who I was. My friend James helped a lot, I came out to him first, and he was really supportive and understanding, I could always go to him when I was feeling down. It took time, you know, and now I'm very comfortable with who I am.' He paused, as though thinking hard. 'But I haven't been able to tell my parents yet, I know my Mum will probably be fine but I can't help thinking that Dad will be less than supportive. It's frightening that he might not accept who I am.'

'Have you...er...you know, ever had a boyfriend?' Harry asked, feeling awkward about breaching the subject, but for some reason, he needed to find out. But Cedric remained silent. 'Sorry,' Harry said, worrying that he had upset him. 'I shouldn't have asked that. It's none of my business really.'

'It's fine Harry really,' Cedric replied. 'Erm...the answer to that is...sort of, I suppose. Last year, I had a thing with a boy but I'm not sure you could ever describe us as boyfriends.' Cedric pre-empted Harry's unasked question. 'Can't tell you who I'm afraid, he...er...never really accepted who he was.'

Harry was thinking fast. It was clear that Cedric had struggled with his sexuality in the same way Harry had, and some of the emotions that he had just had described to him were similar to ones he had experienced. But Harry was still very new at this, Cedric had had much longer to come to terms with who he was. Was Harry really ready to divulge his secret? He remembered what the older Cedric had said to him when he had disappeared, and took the split-second decision to go for it. He looked at Cedric intently and said, 'Listen Cedric, I...um...think I might be gay too.'

There was a beat and then Cedric smiled, looking at him with great affection. 'I'm glad you were able to tell me that Harry, you've clearly come a long way.'

'Wait a minute,' Harry said incredulously. 'You mean that you knew already?'

'I had a suspicion,' Cedric admitted sheepishly. 'Remember that I'm more qualified than most to recognise the signs of someone struggling with their sexuality. And when you...you know, shouted all those insults at me, I knew there had to be a reason for you to behave like that, cos let's just say it was a little out of character.'

Harry nodded, and then realised the implication of this. 'So, when you said that it was because of my upbringing, you were...what? Bullshitting?'

Cedric grinned. 'I wouldn't put it quite like that. I just thought that you needed a little more time, so I used some deflection to give you that time.'

'I can't decide whether that makes you the nicest person I've ever meet, or a total bastard,' Harry said, but his fixed smile gave away which one he believed to be the truth. 'So, yeah, there we are, I'm gay. Who'd have thought it? Do you know what actually provoked that argument we had last week?' Cedric shook his head. 'Ron and Hermione told me that you were gay and were worried that you might fancy me, and I completely flipped out. Weird really as I know that's not the case.' Harry knew precisely what he was doing with this, it was a little devious but he was pushing Cedric towards where he wanted him to be.

'I'm sorry?' asked Cedric, but Harry could tell that he knew what was happening.

'I said that Ron and Hermione thought you might fancy me, but I know that's not the case.'

'I...er...no,' said Cedric in the end. 'I mean...you're wrong.' It took Harry a moment to digest this information. Had Cedric really said what he thought he had said? 'Listen Harry,' Cedric said quickly. 'It's getting late. We'd better get back to the castle.'

Harry nodded silent, his heart and head were working too quickly for him to vocalise anything at that moment. He got to his feet, and they walked silently back to the castle. They paused in the Entrance Hall and Harry decided to take a risk. 'So...do you think then, that we might...you know, have something?'

Cedric looked at him, and it was clear that he was choosing his words carefully. 'Yeah, maybe we do. Though I think we should take things slowly for the moment. This is something a bit new for both of us, so shall we just see what happens?'

'Yeah, absolutely,' said Harry, quick to agree. 'We certainly don't need a label for anything yet. We should just focus on taking things slowly. So...when can I see you again?'

Cedric smiled. 'I'm sure we'll find a time. I'll send you a note. Goodnight Harry.' And he set off towards the Hufflepuff Common Room. Harry stood there silently for a moment, collecting his thoughts and allowing his heart rate to return to normal. Unless he was very much mistaken, he may well have just got himself a boyfriend.


	8. Interlude - Long Lost Memories

**Author Notes** – Just an interlude, but I'm very pleased with it, particularly with what I did with the character of Lockhart, I've always thought he needed a little more complexity, and I wanted to explore how he'd deal with losing his memories. Hope you enjoy it, we'll be back with Harry and Cedric next chapter. Plenty more to come.

**Rating** – PG.

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**INTERLUDE**

_Long Lost Memories_

Gilderoy Lockhart sighed heavily as he picked up another letter from Gladys Gudgeon. He received correspondence from this woman at least twice a week and yet, even after a year at the hospital, he still had no idea why she seemed to admire him so much. He had been able to discern that he had once been famous but since he had lost his memories, he had no idea what he had done or why it had made him so popular, especially with this particular middle-aged witch. The Healers that looked after him were not particular forthcoming about his past, they said that there was little point going over it as it would only distress him. This had hardly served to reassure him, what could he have possibly done that meant it had been decided he would be better off not knowing? Still, there was little he could do; he was a permanent resident at the hospital, so he had little choice but to do what the staff told him.

He looked up from the letter and around the ward. It was deserted for the first time in several weeks, the last patient having been moved to a different floor only that afternoon. And so he sat there alone, looking over his letters, thinking about the past. The sound of the door opening drew his attention, and in came his own Healer, Miriam, who had brought his dinner with her. He gave her his best smile as she set the plate down and rearranged his covers.

'How are you feeling this evening Gilderoy?' she asked, as she took each of his pillows in turn and began to change the covers.

'Oh fine,' he replied. This was his standard response that he gave every evening, he didn't want to let on that he had exhausted himself straining to reach the memories that were out of his reach. He just wanted to know what he had been, but the past remained shrouded, a lost country that he was beginning to think that he might never find again.

'Pleased to hear it,' she said, in her usual cheery tones. 'Now, eat your dinner while it's hot. I'll be back soon so you get ready for bed. You do look tired, Gilderoy, you haven't been exerting yourself again, have you?'

'No,' he said, holding his stack of letters. 'Just reading and replying to my fan-mail. You know that I do get an awful lot of the stuff. So many requests for autographs, and I do hate turning them down.'

'Of course,' she said, though she eyed him suspiciously, and Lockhart suspected that she didn't entirely believe him. 'Well, eat your dinner and then we'll make sure you get a good night's sleep. You look like you need it.'

She left him alone after that, leaving the ward empty and silent once again. He ate his food with little enthusiasm, it wasn't bad exactly, it was just that he had no appetite at that moment. He was depressed, if truth be told. In fact, he spent most of his days and nights depressed. Here he was in the hospital, all alone with rarely any visitors, he didn't even have himself for company, just a faded echo of what he used to be.

He heard the door open again and looked up, expecting to see Miriam returning to check that he was doing as he was told. Therefore, it was a surprise to see someone else walking into the room. It was a middle-aged man, quite short, and wearing an extraordinary combination of clothes. Lockhart's eyes were drawn particularly to the white panama hat that sat atop his scruffy brown hair, and the plaid trousers that he was wearing. He certainly didn't look like anyone else that he had seen in St Mungo's who were either dressed in Healer's uniforms or robes of different varieties. This man seemed to be entirely different. Not only this, but Lockhart had the smallest impression that he recognised the individual, but he had no idea from where. Perhaps this, too, was one of his memories that would remain stubbornly out of his reach, even now when he most needed it.

'Good evening Gilderoy,' said the stranger, as he walked across the room, and sat down in the chair next to Lockhart's bed. Lockhart viewed him suspiciously, still desperately hoping that his memory would return to him, and he would be able to recognise the man. Nothing happened. 'I hope you don't mind me dropping in?' the stranger continued.

Deciding that straining his memories wasn't getting him anywhere, Lockhart decided to return to another favourite tactic of his. 'Of course not,' he said, with a charming smile and a wave of his hand. 'I'm used to visitors dropping in all the time. I assume you've come for an autograph, maybe even a signed photo?'

The man smiled, and then looked at Lockhart with his brown eyes. Or perhaps they were blue-green, Lockhart thought suddenly, but had no idea where that particular idea had come from. 'No,' the stranger replied in the end, and Lockhart's smile faltered a little. 'Though it's very kind of you to offer. I'm here on business I'm afraid. Urgent business in fact.'

'Is that so?' said Lockhart, trying to maintain his jovial charm despite the fact that this man's presence was unnerving him greatly. 'Well, interesting that you would choose here to do your business.' He tried to avoid laughing at his accidental joke. 'I mean, a hospital such as this is hardly the best working environment, wouldn't you agree?'

'Yes I would. But this is not exactly normal business.' The stranger picked up one of his fan letters and began to read it. Lockhart was annoyed at this particular invasion of privacy but decided against saying anything.

'So,' Lockhart finally decided upon after a look pause. 'You seem to know my name, but I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage.'

'Indeed,' said the stranger, returning the letter to his bedside table and fixing his gaze once again on Lockhart. 'We have met once before, but I'm afraid you wouldn't remember. So, for the sake of argument, you may call me Smith.'

'Smith,' repeated Lockhart. 'And your first name?' There was no reply. 'I see. Well then, Smith, as you're here on business, and I'm the only one in this ward, I assume therefore that you came here to see me. Why would that be?'

'Yes,' replied Smith, and he stood up and began to pace the room thoughtfully, examining every inch of it. 'I wouldn't normally make such a trip myself, but as I have very little time to do what needs to be, I thought I would come. You see, my dear Gilderoy, what I am looking for is information.'

Lockhart considered his response to this. 'Well, I'm afraid you may well have come to the wrong place. You see, I'm a man who can't remember his own past, so I doubt I would have much information that would be of any use to you.'

'On the contrary. As a matter of fact you have the very information contained in your head that I need. You can't access it, the memory charm that you cast on yourself won't allow it, but I can reach in there and get it if required.' Lockhart definitely didn't like the sound of that, particularly the dark tone with which it had been delivered. He was about to say something but the stranger continued. 'You see Gilderoy, all your memories are still there, all the charm has done has placed a block between the act of trying to remember and the brain responding with the corresponding memory.'

Lockhart tried to digest this. If what Smith said was true, then perhaps there was hope that he might someday discover what he had been. 'And what do you want to know?'

'Just one memory. Something that you found out when you were at Hogwarts.' Lockhart remembered it being explained to him that he had been a teacher at the school, and it was there that he had lost his memories. 'I need to know what it was, it's very important.'

'Why is it important?' Lockhart asked, desperate to know more.

'To save lives, my own and...others.' The way that he had said the final world made Lockhart very uncomfortable. 'Will you let me reach in and get it?'

Lockhart thought carefully for a moment. The idea of someone rummaging around inside his head wasn't exactly appealing, but the stranger had said that his memories were not gone, they were just out of his reach, and anything that might bring them back was worth a try. He looked over at Smith, who was watching him carefully. 'Very well.'

Smith nodded, and walked over to stand next to him. He reached up and placed one hand on each of Lockhart's temples. 'Contact,' he muttered, and Lockhart felt his vision darkening. In his head, he could see a closed door, and instinctively, he knew that he had to let it open. Concentrating, he did so, and he saw an image of Smith, clutching an umbrella, walk through it. The image dissolved, and he was back in the hospital ward.

'Thank you Gilderoy,' said Smith, as he removed his hands from Lockhart's face. Lockhart himself was dismayed, he still had none of his memories returned, he felt exactly as he had before he had let this stranger into his head. 'I have what I need now.' Smith began to make his way towards the door.

'Wait!' cried Lockhart, calling after him, and the stranger paused and turned back to look at him. 'What about me? You said that my memories were still there, is there no way I can reach them again? I need to know who I was!'

Smith walked back to his bed and looked at him seriously. 'I'm afraid not,' he said, and Lockhart slumped back, feeling hopeless. 'That charm you cast was very powerful, the block is too strong for you to reach them. I only could because I know a way around it.'

'But can't you show me how to do that?' Lockhart said imploringly.

'I'm afraid not, it's not the sort of thing you can learn.' He straightened up again. 'I'm truly sorry Gilderoy, but it's too late for all that now.' He reached inside his pocket and drew out a golden fob watch. Flicking it open, he examined it closely before putting it away again. 'He'll be making his move any time now,' he muttered to himself, and then looked at Lockhart once more. 'I must be going now Gilderoy. Goodbye.' And with that, he was gone, and Lockhart was again left alone with the dark and empty ward.

He picked up one of his letters and looked at it for a moment, before slowly tearing it into pieces and throwing them across the room. His last hope was gone, and he had no idea what to do now, the thought that he might one day rediscover his past was the only thing that had kept him going. In the distance he could hear the sound of footsteps approaching the ward, but he was too deep in thought to pay attention. He had decided what he was going to do; the next morning, he was going to discharge himself from the hospital, and go out and try and build a new life for himself. He had spent too long now thinking about the past, he had to go out and create the future now. The footsteps were getting louder, dragging his concentration back to the present. He was only now beginning to register what the stranger had said about it being too late. Yet again, he heard the door open and looked over, expecting to see his Healer returning to tell him off for not finishing his dinner and making a mess.

It wasn't his Healer.


	9. Chapter 7 - Confessions and Lamentations

**Author Notes** – longest chapter so far. This is the last chapter of the first part of the story. But don't worry, there's still plenty more to come. Thanks to all those who have read so far, hope you've liked it and will stick with it. Please review if you want to, it's great to hear what readers think.

**Rating** – T

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

_Confessions and Lamentations_

'What's up Hermione?' Harry asked as he sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. He was surprised to see that her eyes were gleaming as though she had been trying not to cry, and was staring resolutely at her toast. Ron glanced at her and then handed Harry a copy of the _Daily Prophet_. Harry nodded his thanks and looked at the front page. He was shocked to see the headline "Former Hogwarts Teacher Found Dead in Hospital". Flicking the paper open to the main story, Harry started to read:

_Tributes are being paid this morning to Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin Third Class, who was found dead in his hospital bed at St Mungo's late Wednesday evening. It is believed that he suffered from a fatal heart attack and the Healers who arrived on the scene were unable to revive him. Mr Lockhart, aged 46, was famous for his elaborate and exciting adventures, which involved battles with werewolves and yetis. Later in life, he took up the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the academic year 1992-3 but had to retire after being struck by a Memory charm that destroyed most of his personality. He spent his final years in St Mungo's under constant care, where he spent his time writing a new book and answering letters from his legions of fans._

_The Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, led the tributes in the Wizengamot yesterday morning. Before answering weekly questions, he said the following: "It is with great regret that I must inform the Wizengamot that Gilderoy Lockhart has died. He was a first-class wizard and teacher, who will be sorely missed by those who knew him. I had the privilege of visiting him in hospital only a few weeks ago and he was as charming and graceful as ever.'_

_Opposition Leader, Rufus Scrimgeour, also paid tribute, saying..._

Harry closed the paper and looked over at Hermione, who looked up at him. 'Bloody hell,' he said. 'I can't believe it.' She nodded and then looked down at her toast again, but it remained untouched.

'Tell me about it,' said Ron. 'I mean, I know he was a grade-A pillock, but I never expected something like this to happen at his age.'

'Oh Ron,' said Hermione, looking up at him furiously. 'I know that you hated him, but you could at least be a little more respectful!' And with that, she rose to her seat and hurried from the Hall, stifling a small sob as she went.

'Leave her be,' said Harry quickly, as Ron looked like he was considering following her. 'She's upset. Give her time, she'll be fine.' He scanned the rest of the newspaper quickly, but nothing leapt out at him, and so he placed it in the empty space next to him, and reached for the cereal. 'Odd though don't you think? A man dying of a heart attack in a hospital?'

'Absolutely,' replied Ron. 'Seriously though, heart attacks are really rare among wizards and even then, a skilled Healer can usually deal with it. This is the first fatal one I've heard of. My Great Aunt Muriel had one about five years ago, and she was up and on the mend after a few days. Lockhart was only forty-six, it's really unusual.'

Harry considered this for a moment. The idea of a wizard dying of something that was so common in the Muggle world was completely new to him, he was so used to these elaborate illnesses and injuries that he often forgot that wizards were human too, and suffered from the same frailties as Muggles. He made a mental note to always remember that fact. He glanced up at the Teachers' Table, wondering what Dumbledore made of this news, but saw that he was not in his seat. 'Haven't seen Dumbledore in days,' he said to Ron, who raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything.

The look that Ron gave him for some reason made Harry feel uncomfortable. He suddenly remembered that he had yet to tell his best friend about him and Cedric, he hadn't even told him about his sexuality. It wasn't that he didn't trust Ron, but he was slightly apprehensive about what Ron's reaction might be. After his last encounter with Cedric, he had told Hermione what had happened, and she had reacted just as he expected, with exuberance, asking him questions about every detail of their conversation, when they were planning to meet again, and almost anything else she could think of. It would have been nice if Ron had been there to share the excitement, and Harry knew that he would have to come clean at some point soon, it was hardly something that he could keep secret from his best friend for long, but he was still uneasy about doing so, and he was not entirely sure why. Surely Ron would accept him, they had been through much worse and remained friends.

'Come on,' said Ron, breaking Harry out of his reverie. 'We've got Defence first thing, don't want be late for Moody.' Harry nodded absent-mindedly and together they left the Great Hall.

The moment they sat down in the lesson, Moody silenced them with a wave of his hand. 'Now then,' he growled, his magical eye swivelling around madly, looking at them each in turn, before settling on Harry himself. 'Potter, I need to you to come to my office this evening at seven. Issues with your last essay.' Harry nodded, knowing full well that it was time for another training session, and he wasn't looking forward to it much. 'Right,' continued Moody, turning his attention back to the rest of the class. 'Today we're going to be talking more about the Unforgiveable Curses. Wait a minute...has anyone seen Miss Granger?' His magical eye was moving rapidly again, as if trying to spy her out.

'She's gone the Hospital Wing sir,' Ron lied quickly, and Moody stared at him. 'She said something about a migraine I think.'

'I see,' said Moody, and it was clear that he didn't really believe what he was being told. 'That's a pity, I was hoping she could help me with today's lesson. Never mind, we'll have to find someone else.' His eyes fell once again on Ron, who gulped visibly.

* * *

They didn't see Hermione for the rest of that day and by the time they got back to the Common Room after dinner, Harry and Ron were beginning to worry. It was a relief, therefore, to see her sitting in her favourite armchair gazing into the fire. They looked at each other, and Ron nodded, indicating that it would be best if Harry went and spoke to her. He walked over and sat down in the chair next to her. 'Hey,' he said, smiling at her.

'Hi,' she replied, giving him a watery smile in return. 'Sorry I haven't been around today. I didn't think I could face lessons.'

'It's all right, you didn't miss much, apart from Moody using Ron as a human guinea pig for his lesson, which was quite funny. I'm...er...sorry about Lockhart.'

'Oh it's fine,' she said, waving her hand. 'I'm not sure why I let it upset me so much. Ron's right, he was a grade-A pillock, but he was always nice to me, and as I don't get that from many people, it mattered.'

'Hey now,' said Harry, offering her a tissue from his pocket which she accepted and blew her nose. 'You're upset because you care. And don't ever change that. Honestly Hermione, you've been absolutely brilliant this past few days with everything I've been going through with Cedric. Seriously, I couldn't have done it without you.'

'Thanks Harry. I'm glad I've been able to help.' Harry smiled, and pulled her into a hug. She hiccupped a couple of times, and they both laughed. When they broke apart, she adopted her business-like manner once more. 'Right, seems like I've got a whole day's lessons to catch up on, so can't waste any time.' She reached for her bag, and pulled out a couple of textbooks. 'Do you want to work with me?' she added, as though she had just remembered that he was still there.

'Ah, this is why I love you Hermione, I'd never get any work done without you,' said Harry. 'But unfortunately, you may have to work with Ron cos I've got another lesson with Moody this evening that I should really be getting to.'

'OK,' she said. 'I suppose I should talk to Ron anyway. Speaking of which, have you told him about...you know, the whole Cedric thing?'

'Not yet,' he replied, and she frowned at him. 'I'm not sure why but I've been trying to put it off. I'm going to do it soon, I promise. I'd better get going.' He patted her arm briefly before heading to the Entrance Hall, nodding at Ron as he did, who took the hint, and as Harry left the Common Room, he glanced round and saw Ron hugging Hermione, which made him smile lightly to himself. At least they were on good terms again, he thought, that's one less bit of stress to deal with.

He walked quickly to Moody's office, not wanting to be late, and went inside. His teacher was once again sitting at his desk, this time reviewing a whole stack of papers. Harry waited quietly as Moody picked up a quill from the desk, dipped it in an ink pot, and wrote a large 'A' at the top of the paper, which Harry assumed was a grade for the piece of work. He then looked up at Harry. 'Ah good,' he said, getting to his feet. 'Now then Potter, it's been decided that we need to increase your level of training, and so from now on, we'll be meeting twice a week. I assume you can fit that into your schedule?' Harry decided that this was not really a question, more a statement of fact, and so just nodded. 'Excellent. Right then –

'Excuse me sir,' said Harry, unable to resist. 'I'm still not really clear why. I mean, what's changed in the last few days that means I suddenly need more training.' He paused for a moment, thinking about what he had read in the paper that morning. 'This hasn't got anything to do with Lockhart's death, has it?'

Moody looked at him closely. 'Perhaps you're a little more perceptive than I thought Potter.' He then glanced over at the dark corner of the room, before back at Harry. 'I will tell you what I can.' He gestured for Harry to sit down on the chair opposite his desk, and Harry did so, waiting with anticipation. 'You must understand Potter that much of what I'm about to tell you is highly sensitive, and you mustn't repeat it outside this room.' Harry nodded. 'Good. There's been a series of unusual events over the last few weeks, of which Lockhart's death is just the latest, involving a number of deaths and disappearances. Dumbledore and others believe that it's part of a greater plan. That, and the reappearance of a certain individual has convinced us that something is beginning to happen. Now, we may be mistaken, it could just be coincidence, but we cannot take any risks, and given your rather...notable history, it has been decided that you need to be prepared for any eventuality.'

Harry digested this information for a moment. He had known for a while that something was happening, what with the events of the World Cup, the disappearances that he had read about in the paper, and the encounter with an older version of Cedric. 'Is it anything to do with Voldemort sir?'

'Perhaps,' said Moody. 'Or indeed it could be far worse than that.' This made the hair on Harry's neck stand up. Something worse than Voldemort? 'But that's all I can tell you at the moment. The main thing is that you mustn't panic Potter, just be vigilant in your day-to-day activities, and work hard at your training. And, hopefully, in the end, none of this will have been necessary.' This wasn't exactly reassuring, but Harry knew better than to question it. Instead, he just nodded. 'Excellent,' Moody continued. 'Now let's get on with the lesson.'

* * *

When he returned to the Common Room an hour later, Ron and Hermione were still working by the fire. He was halfway across the room, intent on joining them, when he was stopped by Dean Thomas. 'Harry,' he said. 'Cedric Diggory caught me earlier this evening in the Entrance Hall, asked me to pass on a message.'

'What was the message?' Harry asked, trying to sound casual, and not be too obvious about his excitement.

'To meet him in the Entrance Hall at 9.30,' said Dean, looking at his watch. 'And it's twenty past now, so you'd better get a move on if you're going.'

Harry sighed. All this rushing around was doing him no good at all. He glanced over at Ron and Hermione, neither of them had spotted that he had returned. He wanted to go and talk to them, but he didn't want to leave Cedric waiting, and so for the second time that evening, he walked back out of the Common Room, and hurried down the Grand Staircase.

When he got to the Entrance Hall, it was deserted. He checked his watch and saw that it was 9.36. Damn it, he thought, Cedric must have already gone. Thinking that he might only have just left, Harry sprinted over to the other side of the room and looked down the corridor that led to the Hufflepuff dormitories, where he saw Cedric walking towards him. 'Blimey Harry,' he said, as he got closer. 'I've never seen anyone move so fast.'

'Hey,' Harry said, pulling Cedric into a hug. Cedric looked taken aback for a moment and then reciprocated. 'Sorry,' he added, when they broke apart. 'It's just I thought I was late and that you might have gone already. But it seems we were both late.'

'So it would seem,' Cedric replied. 'I got into an argument with James about Quidditch and didn't realise what the time was. What's your excuse?'

'Lesson with Moody,' Harry explained, and Cedric nodded. 'They're going pretty well actually, I've mastered the Stunning spell and now he's got me working on the Impediment jinx. Hopefully we'll be done with that by the end of next lesson.'

'That's great,' said Cedric, smiling at him. 'Sounds like you're really coming on. Though...any more information about why you're having these lessons?'

Harry thought back to what Moody had told him. For a moment he considered telling Cedric, it would have been nice to get it off his chest and hear someone else's opinion. But, on the other hand, he had promised that it wouldn't leave that office. 'Not really,' he said in the end, deciding that he might tell him later. 'Just think it's best to do as he says.'

'No argument from me there.'

'So, what can I do for you?' Harry asked and Cedric frowned. 'Well, I assume you asked to meet me for a reason.'

'Maybe I just wanted to spend some time with you,' Cedric said, and Harry realised that he was being far too business-like, he must have got that from Hermione. 'It's all right,' Cedric continued, clearly realising what Harry was thinking. 'I just fancied a chat that's all.'

'No, you're right,' Harry said. 'You don't need to have a reason to want to see me. To tell you the truth, I wanted to see you as well.' Cedric smiled. 'But I don't really fancy spending an evening in a corridor. Where could we go?' This was one of the major disadvantages of the House system, Harry thought, if you wanted to spend time with someone from another House, it was almost impossible to find a place to do so.

Cedric looked thoughtful for a moment and then smiled again. 'Tell you what,' he said, adopting a mischievous expression. 'We could go to the Prefects' Common Room. There probably won't be anyone there at this hour.'

'There's a Prefects Common Room?' Harry asked. 'Blimey, the job certainly comes with some perks doesn't it?'

'Well, I'm sure you'll find out next year. There's no way Dumbledore's favourite won't be made a Prefect. What, don't look at me like that, everybody knows you're his favourite.' Harry crossed his arms and pulled his best disgruntled face, even though he wasn't the faintest bit annoyed because he knew that Cedric was absolutely right. 'Anyway, come on then, let's go.'

And with that, Cedric grabbed his hand and started leading him back down the corridor. All other thoughts left his head as Harry registered that Cedric was holding his hand, and so they walked together through the Entrance Hall and back onto the Grand Staircase. Cedric led him to the third floor corridor, where they stopped outside the third door on the left. 'Here we are,' Cedric announced, letting go of Harry's hand, much to Harry's disappointment. He knocked on the door twice and said clearly, 'Dolfile.' Harry snorted at this ridiculous word, and Cedric gave him a reproving look. The door swung open and they stepped inside.

Harry decided that it would definitely be worth becoming a Prefect just to use this room. There was a collection of the most comfortable looking sofas and armchairs that Harry had ever seen arranged in front a roaring fire, and in one corner there was even a small kitchen area with shelves containing goblets and mugs. In another corner was a collection of tables surrounded by more chairs, and adjacent to that was, for some unknown reason, what looked like a small cupboard containing mops and buckets. Harry grinned at the eccentricities of the castle's design, and Cedric looked at him. 'Won't you sit down?' he said, gesturing to the sofas and Harry sunk into one of them. He had been quite correct, they were ludicrously comfortable, and he felt himself relax properly for the first time in a while.

'Can you I get you a drink?' Cedric asked, walking over to the kitchen area and reaching down two goblets from the shelf. 'Pumpkin juice?' Harry gave him a thumbs-up and Cedric opened up one of the cupboards and brought out a jug. 'It refills itself every time we use it up,' he explained, pouring the orange liquid into the goblets, and placing the jug back in the cupboard. He brought the two goblets over and sat down next to Harry, handing him one.

'Cheers,' said Harry, and they clinked the goblets together. Harry took a big swig and then put it down on the floor next to the sofa. 'I like it,' he said, gesturing to the room in general. He looked up, and saw that, like the Great Hall, the ceiling seemed to be bewitched to resemble the sky outside. At the moment it was a clear night and Harry could make out several stars. His Astronomy lessons meant he could quickly identify Mars, noting that it was particularly bright that evening.

'Yeah,' said Cedric, grinning. 'Some of the Prefects spend a lot of time here, and I can see why. I prefer the Hufflepuff Common Room if I'm honest, there's more people around, a more sociable atmosphere, you know.' He shifted a little bit closer to Harry and leaned towards him. 'So tell me,' he continued, with Harry trying not to get distracted by how attractive he was up close. He was getting very close now and Harry tried to decide whether Cedric was about to kiss him, and whether Harry should go for it first. This seemed like a very good idea. But then at the last minute, Cedric moved back again and said, 'Tell me about the Gryffindor Common Room.'

It took a moment for Harry's brain to start working again after what had just happened. He knew that Cedric was playing with him, but the truth was that Harry was thoroughly enjoying it, and decided that he could give as good as he got. 'Well now, don't know if I should be talking about such things to an outsider. How do I know I can trust you?'

'Well,' said Cedric, leaning forward once again. 'You've allowed yourself to be alone in this room with me.' OK, Harry thought, they were definitely flirting now, plausible deniability was being pushed to its absolute limits.

'You make a good point,' he replied, and looked down at Cedric's lips, they were perfect and Harry was trying very hard to resist the temptation to introduce them to his own. 'But then again, I can hardly resist whenever I get an invitation from an absolutely gorgeous fellow student.' Cedric grinned, again showing his perfectly arranged teeth.

'Why thank you Harry, I have to say you're pretty damn gorgeous yourself.' Harry's heart skipped a beat at that. He was used to people heaping praise on him for his actions, but this was the first time that someone had told him he was attractive. It was a strange feeling, knowing that someone actually fancied him, it was something completely new. And then he remembered his conversation with Moody earlier, about how he might be in a great deal of danger in the coming months, and he thought about how anyone who was connected with him would also be at risk. It worried him, thinking that by getting involved with him, Cedric might be exposing himself to danger. He looked at Cedric, who was watching him closely, and involuntarily shifted away from him, feeling suddenly dejected.

'Harry,' Cedric said, looking concerned. 'What's the matter? Sorry if I was being a bit forward there, I know you're still new at this.'

'It's not that, believe me it was fun,' Harry said quickly, trying to find the right words to express his thoughts. 'Listen Cedric, I really like you, and I'm fairly sure you feel the same way.' Cedric nodded. 'But I'm worried. Worried because I come with a lot of baggage.' Cedric opened his mouth to say something. 'Please,' Harry said before he could say anything. 'I really need to get this all out. If we're...you know, together, then I'm putting you at risk. You may have noticed that there are people out there who aren't exactly enamoured with me, and plenty more who would like nothing more than to see me dead. And if you're with me, then I'm worried that you're going to be in danger as well. The truth is I've never had to think about that before, and it scares me that by being with you, I could be putting you at risk.' He swallowed and waited for a reaction.

Cedric reached forward and took Harry's hand in his own. 'OK, now it's my turn,' he said, and Harry looked at him. His expression was determined. 'Do you really think I didn't know all that before? Everyone knows the rumours Harry, I know about your history with You-Know-Who and all that. And do you know something?' Harry shook his head. 'I didn't care then, and I don't care now. I like you, and as far as I'm concerned, that's worth more than any risk there might be in being with you. You can't go through life afraid of getting close to people, you'll be alone and miserable. Just...let it happen, and we'll worry about the consequences later.'

Harry looked him in the eyes and could tell that he meant it. He was right, of course. But Harry still had doubts. 'Are you sure?' he asked.

Cedric leaned forward again and this time pressed his lips against Harry's. Cedric kissed him tentatively at first, and then with more confidence. Harry leaned into it and felt Cedric's tongue slide delicately across his mouth. They broke apart a moment later. 'Does that answer your question?' Cedric asked, and Harry grinned, pulling Cedric for another kiss. He was more confident this time, and began to explore Cedric's mouth more closely, running his tongue across his lips and inside, lightly touching his teeth. Cedric's hands were on his shoulders now, and Harry reached up to cupped the back of Cedric's head. When they parted again, Harry looked into Cedric's eyes and smiled, and he put his head against Cedric's chest, both of them stretching out on the sofa below them, feeling perfectly content. Harry could feel Cedric's heart beating quickly, and listened to it for a moment as it began to slow again.

'Pretty good for a first kiss,' Cedric muttered. Harry grinned in spite of himself, it was weird to consider the fact that his first kiss with Cedric had come before Cedric's first kiss with him. That would certainly be difficult to explain away, he thought.

'Yeah,' Harry agreed, lifting his head and pecking Cedric on the lips again. 'I thought it was pretty damn fantastic myself.' Cedric smiled, and they lost several more seconds as they started exploring each other's mouths once more. 'So,' Harry continued when they had finished. 'The last time I saw you, I asked you if you thought we might have something. What do you reckon now?'

'Well,' said Cedric, hugging him slightly closer. 'I definitely think we do have something. Why, do you want do it formally?'

'Would be nice,' Harry said, and he sat up straight on the sofa. Cedric frowned and did likewise. 'Right then.' He took Cedric's hand. 'Cedric Diggory. Will you be my boyfriend?'

'Yes Harry Potter,' Cedric replied, smiling. 'Yes I will.' They kissed again. 'I think that's settled then. Nice word "boyfriend" isn't it? Who'd have thought it, I'm Harry Potter's boyfriend? The press will have a field day.'

Harry shifted uncomfortably again. 'Erm, listen Cedric. I'm not sure I'm ready for the entire world to know yet. If we were anyone else, I wouldn't really give a shit, but you know, it's me and as soon as someone knows something about me, everyone does. I hope that's all right with you?' he added hopefully.

'Of course,' Cedric said. 'I know it's going to be hard for you, I can't imagine what it's like having every detail of your life constantly on show. We won't tell anyone until you're ready.'

'Great, thanks Cedric, that means a lot. Actually though, Hermione does know already. When we had that fall out last week, I needed someone to talk to and she was there as always. But I think we can trust her to keep it secret.'

'What about Ron?' Cedric asked. 'Have you told him yet?'

'No, not yet. I suppose we're going to have to tell our best friends at some point, it's not exactly something you can keep secret from the people who know you best for long.'

'Yeah, most of my year in Hufflepuff already know I'm gay, but I won't tell them who I'm with, just that I'm with somebody.'

They carried on talking casually for over an hour, covering all the usual topics of work, Quidditch and their friends. They paused every now and again for another round of kissing, but were both comfortable to leave it at that. They talked briefly about what their relationship meant, and both agreed that they would take things slowly as this was something new to both of them, but particularly for Harry. Eventually, when it was way past 11, Cedric decided that it was time for Harry to get back to the Gryffindor dormitories, and insisted on walking him there, despite Harry insisting that it wasn't necessary. He quickly changed his mind, however, when Cedric took his hand again, and they walked hand-in-hand all the way back to the seventh floor.

When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, who was snoring loudly, Cedric dipped his head and they kissed. When they broke apart, Harry chuckled to himself. 'You know, you being a few inches taller than me really isn't going to work out well in the long, I'm going to get a crick in my neck.'

'I'm sure we'll find some way to manage,' Cedric replied light-heartedly. 'Shortass.'

'Oi, I'm perfectly average height. It's you that's abnormally sized.' He paused, admiring Cedric's muscled shoulders and arms. 'Although, I'm not actually complaining about that.'

Cedric laughed. 'All right then you lunatic, time for you to go to bed.' They shared a few more goodbye kisses before Cedric insisted that Harry go through the portrait hole. 'Goodnight Harry, I'll see you very soon I promise.' And with that he was off back down the corridor. Harry watched him go, smiling inanely to himself. Thank God no one can see me, he thought, I must look like a right idiot right now.

He eventually managed to wake the Fat Lady and she reluctantly opened the Portrait Hole for him, grumbling about being woken up at ridiculous times. He clambered through, and for the third time that evening, entered the Common Room, hoping that he wouldn't have to yet again turn round and leave for some reason. He saw that Hermione and Ron were still up, and he went over to join them. They both looked relieved to see him.

'Harry, we were starting to worry,' Hermione said, as he sat down in a chair next to them. 'Were you with Moody that whole time?'

Harry glanced at Ron. 'Er...no,' he said in the end. 'I was with Cedric.'

'Oh yes?' Hermione said, and she too glanced at Ron and then back at Harry. She raised her eyebrows, and Harry knew what she was trying to tell him. He nodded and Hermione smiled, reassuring him.

'Listen Ron mate,' said Harry uncertainly. 'There's something I've got to tell you. You see, the thing is –

'You're gay and seeing Cedric Diggory,' Ron finished for him. Harry gaped at him, not really knowing how to react. Hermione too looked completely dumbfounded. 'What?' Ron continued. 'I'm not completely useless you know. I've known about Harry for quite a while and when you started spending time with Cedric, it was fairly obvious what was going on.'

'Whoa, wait a minute,' Harry interjected. 'What do you mean you've known about me for some time? How could you have done, I've only just found out myself.'

'I recognised the signs actually,' Ron replied. 'That happens when you've got a gay brother.'

Harry suddenly realised that his mouth was hanging open again, and so quickly closed it. 'I'm sorry, what? You've got a gay brother? Which one? Or more than one? When did this happen? Why didn't anyone...what?'

'Charlie,' Ron explained. 'Mind you, he's always been far too preoccupied worrying about dragons to ever bother getting himself a boyfriend, but he's gay. He told us all last year. Fred and George thought it was brilliant, got him to promise he would shown them round the gay scene in London some time. Honestly Harry, you didn't really think I'd have a problem with you being gay do you?'

'Well, no...but I thought...but you still haven't explained how you knew about me.'

'Only a couple of things really. First, whenever we had one of those talks in the dormitories about girls.' Hermione sighed at this and pretended to cover her ears. 'You were never really into it, then there was the way you used to look at Oliver Wood whenever I saw you at Quidditch training.'

'Wait a minute, stop right there. The way I used to look at Oliver?' Actually, he thought, looking back, it was fairly obvious now. He had always enjoyed it when Oliver praised him, and consistently found himself admiring Oliver's impressive physique in the changing rooms. He grinned. 'OK, maybe I get what you mean?'

'Exactly,' said Ron. 'Small things, but they all add up you know. Ah, wait until Mum and Dad find out, I think Mum'll die of excitement, she's always trying to find eligible men for Charlie, now she can do it for someone else.'

'Hey now, I've already got an eligible man thank you, I don't need any others at this particular moment. And listen Ron, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this actually. You know, the whole Harry Potter thing makes it a bit more complicated.'

'Got it,' Ron said. 'It's a fair point I suppose, don't really want my best friend's love life splashed all over the front page of the _Daily Prophet._ Seriously though Harry, you're still my best friend, this is certainly not going to change that. Hell, it just means for girls for me.'

Hermione groaned as Harry lightly punched Ron on the arm, but Harry knew that Hermione was secretly impressed with Ron's reaction, and he would probably be in the good-books for a few days at least. 'Thanks mate,' Harry said. 'That means a lot. On the other hand, it does seem that I was the only person here who didn't actually know I was gay.'

'So,' Ron said. 'Cedric Diggory eh? How did you manage that then?'

'Well, I can be very charming when I need to be. Actually I have been asking myself the same question, why would someone so thoroughly stunning want to be with someone like me?'

'Oh honestly Harry,' Hermione said, sounding impatient. 'Your time with your Aunt and Uncle has done terrible things for your self-esteem. You, my friend, are actually a very good-looking young man, and any man would be incredibly fortunate to call you his boyfriend.'

'Erm, thanks,' Harry said, considering this for a moment. It was true that he had always been slightly ashamed of his scrawny frame, but that was hardly his fault considering the treatment he had received at the Dursleys. There was no doubt that since he had come to Hogwarts, he had filled out and begun to develop. Perhaps Hermione was right, perhaps he was better looking than he thought. He made a mental note to have a look in a mirror soon to make sure.

'Right then,' said Hermione, clapping her hands together. 'I've spent quite enough time dealing with emotional issues today, so I'm going to bed because we've got a long day tomorrow probably.' She waved and left for the girls' dormitory.

Ron frowned as she went. 'Clearly mental,' he said. 'Sometimes I despair. You know, she's got no right to push me around and tell me what to do.'

'Now Ron, we both know that's not true,' said Harry. 'Listen, I'm probably going to go to bed as well. Thanks again mate, it means a lot.' He clapped Ron on the shoulder, who smiled at him, and then made his way up to his dormitory, where he quietly slipped inside being careful not to wake Neville, grabbed his pyjamas and went into the bathroom.

After he had brushed his teeth, he removed his shirt and examined his torso and face. Despite years of malnourishment, he was relatively proud of his frame now actually, his muscles were developing nicely and he even had the beginnings of a six pack. He smiled, suddenly a lot more at ease with himself than he had been when the day started. He finished changing into his pyjamas and went back to his dormitory, clambering into the bed. He suddenly felt very tired, it had been a long day after all. An eventful day to say the least. He ran over in his mind his time with Cedric, particularly lingering on that first kiss they had shared that evening, and smiled lightly to himself. A few weeks ago he had no idea that he was even gay, and now, here he was with a new boyfriend. A brilliant, fantastic boyfriend, who made him feel wonderful. He knew that things would not continue to be this good, they never were when it came to his life, but at that moment, he felt that all those terrible things that Moody had said might happen could come and try their best, because right now he was confident he could face anything. It was a thought that he would come to regret.


	10. Chapter 8 - The Man in the White Hat

**Author Notes** – The second part of the story has now begun, and things really start to hot up from here, so hope you're looking forward to more to come. First half of this chapter is a little bit of fun, but to make it clear, the events at the end of this chapter also appear in the Prologue but from a different perspective. It would also be great to have some reviews as well to know what you think.

**Rating – **T.

**Note**** – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

_The Man in the White Hat_

Harry could scarcely believe that it had been over four weeks since he had started seeing Cedric but now that the middle of October had arrived, he began to realise just how quickly time passed when you were happy. He was still unconscionably busy of course, but given his rapid progress in his lessons with Moody and the good shape of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, this only served to make him even more cheerful. His full schedule meant that he had even developed a routine of sorts; he had his lessons during the day, followed by an evening training session or lesson, and then he and Cedric would meet and spend time together, usually in the Prefect's Common Room. This room had become almost a second home for Harry, despite the fact that he was technically not allowed to be in there, and it was only occasionally that it was occupied during the night, and they were forced to find somewhere else. Although they normally managed to find an empty classroom, Harry found himself beginning to wish that they had their own private space for just the two of them, but in a castle filled with over 500 people, this was something of a pipe dream. He remembered well one evening when he had brought along the Invisibility Cloak to show Cedric, who had been surprised and impressed by this heirloom, and they had spent the night sneaking round the castle together, looking for a new place to meet. Unfortunately, they had been unsuccessful.

The two of them spent most of their time together just talking, sometimes until very late at night, or early morning depending on how you looked at it, but they would often pause their conversations for a kiss or thirty. Harry found himself remarkably at ease with his new boyfriend, in a way that he only ever had been with Ron and Hermione, and soon they knew almost everything about each other. Almost everything being accurate, however. Harry had yet to explain his relationship with Sirius, or his encounter with the older version of Cedric, but apart from that and a few other things, there was now very little that he hadn't told Cedric. And that trust had been reciprocated, so that Harry felt it was entirely possible he knew his boyfriend better than he knew anyone else, even his best friends.

There was one topic of conversation, however, that they carefully avoided and that was the future. Harry knew full well that at some point, his relationship was going to become public property, and he was not looking forward to that one bit. He was happy with the way things were, and he didn't want them to change, even though he knew that they would have to. He mostly avoided thinking about this, but occasionally, late at night, his mind would wander to consider what the future might hold for him and Cedric. It wasn't only the public nature of his life, but also that Harry knew that at some point, he would inevitably find himself in danger once more, and what effect that might have on his relationship he wasn't sure. But he didn't spend long thinking about this, one thing he had learned was that he needed to live in present and not worry about the future, he would face it when it arrived and not before.

That particular evening, however, Harry's mind was preoccupied with something else entirely, for tomorrow was when Gryffindor would face Slytherin in the first Quidditch match of the season. They had been training exceptionally hard that week, and Harry was now exhausted, but he knew that if they won it would all have been worth it. He wasn't thinking about what would happen if they lost, he had never lost a match against Slytherin yet and he had no intention of starting now.

'It'll be interesting when the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match comes round,' said Ron, as the three of them sat in the Common Room. Harry and Ron were having a game of chess, at Ron's insistence, saying that it would help calm his nerves, while Hermione was working on a particularly complicated looking Arithmancy essay. 'You and Cedric up against each other, wonder how those dynamics will play out.'

'Honestly Ron,' said Hermione, lowering her voice. 'Do you have to speak quite so loudly about Harry's relationship? People might be listening.'

'Oh yeah,' said Ron, casting an apologetic glance at Harry. 'Sorry about that. But I still think it's a legitimate point.'

'Mmm,' said Harry, trying to concentrate on getting his knight to do as it was told. In the end he gave up, and looked at Ron. 'It's not something we've really talked about actually. Suppose we'll just have to grin and bear it, I mean one of us is going to have to be on the losing team, aren't we? I hope it won't cause any arguments.'

Hermione rolled her eyes obviously at this. 'Oh honestly, only teenage boys could possibly worry about how the result of a game might affect their relationship.'

'You'll never understand Hermione, so don't even try,' said Ron. 'Still it's funny to think that of all the students, both of you are one of the four Seekers. Here, wouldn't it be weird if Cho Chang started going out with Malfoy?'

'Don't even joke about such things,' Harry said. 'I might not fancy her anymore, but the thought of her with Malfoy is still one step too far.' Ron laughed, but this may well have been because one of his rooks had just ruthlessly decapitated Harry's remaining bishop. He sighed and toppled his king, surrendering the game to Ron, who looked disappointed that his fun had been ended.

'Right then,' said Harry, getting up from his chair. 'I'd better try and get a good night's sleep before the match tomorrow. I'll see you both at breakfast.' He left them and went up to bed, where, as always before a Quidditch match, he had great difficulty sleeping.

They went through the usual routine at breakfast the next day, with Harry stubbornly refusing to eat anything, and Hermione insisting on it, until eventually he gave in and ate a slice of toast. This had become such a traditional part of the Quidditch match experience, that they still went through it even when he actually had an appetite. Harry kept glancing over at the Hufflepuff table, hoping to catch Cedric's eye, but he didn't seem to be there. Then, at around half ten, Angelina gave him the signal from along the table that meant it was time for the team to meet in the changing room for the pre-match talk. Both Ron and Hermione wished him luck, and he got up from the table and walked towards the Entrance Hall.

As he passed the hourglasses, heading for the grounds, a pair of strong arms grabbed him from behind and dragged him down to the nearest corridor. He heard the word 'Gotcha' as this was happening, and knew instantly who it was that had got hold of him. When they were out of sight, Cedric let go of him, and Harry turned to face him. 'Surprise,' Cedric said.

'Oh very good,' Harry said, doing a slow-hand clap. 'What's this, your attempt to put the Gryffindor Seeker out of action by giving him a heart attack? I always suspected you were a Slytherin spy, this just confirms it.' He grinned, and Cedric dipped his head, kissing him. 'Hello,' Harry finished simply, and Cedric smiled at him.

'Hi,' Cedric said, putting his arms around Harry's shoulders. 'I've been here for ages waiting for you to go passed. How are you feeling?'

'You know,' Harry said nonchalantly. 'Just about to play Slytherin, so the usual. Butterflies, wobbly legs and arms etcetera.'

'You'll be fine. I saw you in the match against them last year, it was the single most incredible piece of flying I've ever seen.'

'Thanks,' said Harry, blushing slightly at the compliment. 'You'll be watching right?'

'Of course, do you think I'd miss the chance to see my super sexy boyfriend doing what he's best at.' At that, they lost several more seconds to another round of kissing. 'You'd better go,' Cedric continued when they broke apart. 'Good luck. You'll be fantastic.' They kissed one more time, and then Harry turned, slinging his broom back over his shoulder, and continued his walk to the Quidditch pitch, feeling much more confident than he had been just a few minutes before.

* * *

Cedric was sure he could make out Hermione waving enthusiastically to him as he scanned the Quidditch stadium, looking for a suitable place to sit. He reached into his robes and pulled out his glasses and put them on, looking more closely at the figure in the distance. It was her in the stands sitting with Ron, and it was clear that she wanted him to go and join them. He paused briefly, wondering whether this might be seen as a little odd, but then he remembered that this was a Slytherin match, when the other three houses all intermingled to show support for one another, and so decided to go and sit with them. He made his way across the pitch, and clambered up into the box where they were, taking the empty seat next to Hermione's.

'Hi there,' he said, giving Hermione his best smile, and she beamed back at him. He liked Hermione a great deal, especially after he had found out how supportive she had been to Harry when he was struggling. Despite this, however, he had actually spent very little time with Harry's best friends, they were all so busy with other things that any time Harry and Cedric had together they preferred to spend alone. Perhaps a Quidditch match would be a great opportunity to get to know them both a little better.

'Hello,' said Hermione. 'I didn't realise you needed glasses.'

'Yeah,' Cedric replied. 'I'm slightly short-sighted, I don't get them out very often it has to be said, I still don't think they suit me but my Dad insisted so there you are.'

'Nonsense, they look fine, don't they Ron?' She got a grunt in return, and sighed. 'Feel free to talk to Ron, but be warned that he's watching sport so won't actually be listening.'

'What?' said Ron, looking at her, and Cedric laughed. 'Why do I feel like I'm the butt of yet another one of your "jokes" Hermione?' Then he looked at Cedric. 'Didn't see you there Cedric, when did you get here?'

'Honestly,' said Hermione, putting her hands to her face in an exaggerated look of despair. 'The match hasn't even started yet and we've already lost you.' He gave her another quizzical look. 'Oh never mind,' she continued. 'Just get back to staring at the pitch.'

Cedric watched them bickering with interest. Harry had explained to him the awkward situation that existed between his two best friends, it was clear that they were both attracted to each other, in quite a major way, but were too stubborn to do anything about it. Even here, the tension between them was quite obvious, and Cedric hoped that they'd be able to work it out at some point. He had learned recently that there was no point denying your feelings for someone else, it just wasn't good for you.

'So,' Hermione said, turning resolutely away from Ron, who had gone back to scanning the crowd and pitch. 'How's everything with you?'

'Pretty good,' replied Cedric. 'You know what it's like. Work, work and more work.' She raised her eyebrows, and Cedric knew what she was getting at. 'And things with Harry and I are pretty fantastic.' She smiled. 'We've got a good thing going on. I'm happy with it.'

'Good,' said Hermione. 'I'm pleased for you. And for him actually, he hasn't stopped smiling since you two got together.' This made Cedric smile, at least that meant he wasn't the only one walking round a castle with a stupid grin on his face for seemingly no reason. And the news that he was having a positive effect on Harry also made him happy. It proved that they were good for each other.

'Oh look,' said Cedric. 'Here they come.' From the two sides of the stadium came the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams, each adorned in their respective colours. Cedric squinted and spotted Harry at the back of his team, looking as nervous as ever. He could also see Malfoy, pulling his usual smug expression. Even though Cedric had never actually spoken to him, his conversations with Harry were enough to convince him what sort of person Malfoy was.

As usual, Madam Hooch asked the team captains to shake hands, which they did with the maximum possible level of aggression without actually attacking each other, and told the team to mount their brooms. Cedric could feel the excitement of the crowd, the atmosphere was always fantastic at a Quidditch match, he enjoyed watching them almost as much as playing in them. The whistle sounded and both teams shot into the air, accompanied by the usual enthusiastic and slightly risqué commentary from Lee Jordan.

'Strange to see a new team Captain,' said Hermione. 'Just so used to seeing Oliver do it, but I'm sure Angelina's doing a great job. Something wrong Cedric?'

'No, no,' said Cedric, realising that he had shifted in his seat uncomfortably at what Hermione had just said. 'Just a little nervous,' he lied quickly, and Hermione nodded without saying anything more.

'Slytherin score!' came the shout of Lee Jordan above the noise of the crowd, and there was a loud chorus of booing from most of the stands. Cedric couldn't resist joining in. 'So that's ten-zero to Slytherin, and Gryffindor have the Quaffle!' Cedric looked up, and saw Harry high above the other plays, looking for the Snitch. He had a flashback to the moment last year when he had seen Harry falling from his broom, and the sickening feeling as he watched it happen without being able to do anything. He supposed that that should have been a clue to how he felt about Harry even then. He kept his hand close to his wand, thinking that if something like that was going to happen again, he would at least be ready for it this time.

Twenty minutes later, the score was seventy-forty to Slytherin, but there was still no sign of the Snitch. Cedric was scanning the pitch intently, trying to spot it, but it was no use. He felt a small surge of panic as a Bludger passed close by to Harry, but his boyfriend dodged it ably and sped off to the other end. He reminded himself that Harry was a perfectly capable flyer and he shouldn't worry quite so much whenever a Bludger or another player flew close by.

'Look!' shouted Ron excitedly. 'Harry's seen something!' Cedric looked up once more, and saw that Harry was racing towards the ground at an incredible speed, being closely pursued by Malfoy. 'Wait a minute, he's not seriously trying...is he? Oh my God, he is!' Cedric understood what Ron was talking about a moment later, when Harry pulled out of the dive at the last second and Malfoy went crashing into the ground at great speed. Wild cheering erupted from the crowd, as Malfoy rolled off his broom and began to struggle to his feet.

'Well I think that answers the question of which of those two is the better flyer,' said Hermione, smiling broadly at the sight of Malfoy looking shocked and shaken. 'And look at that, Harry's caught the Snitch.' She pointed and Cedric looked, seeing Harry rising high into the air with his arm outstretched grasping the small golden ball. The crowd had been so distracted by the previous display that very few people had actually noticed, but after a few seconds past, people began to catch on.

'And Potter has caught the Snitch!' yelled Lee Jordan. 'The game's over and nobody saw it happen! The final score is Gryffindor one hundred and ninety, Slytherin have seventy.'

The crowd began to spill onto the pitch as the teams descended to the ground, and soon Harry and the other Gryffindors were surrounded by fans, with Harry himself in serious danger of being swamped by enthusiastic admirers. Cedric hung back while Ron and Hermione rushed over to their friend, thinking that it was a time for him to be with his House. Harry looked over at him and they made eye contact. Cedric gave him a thumbs-up and a grin, before turning round and heading back to the castle.

* * *

There was, what could only be described as one hell of a party in the Gryffindor Common Room that evening. Fred and George had pulled their usual trick of managing to steal food from the kitchens, and so the entire house was eating, drinking and generally having a good time celebrating Gryffindor's win. Harry himself was the centre of attention, his successful execution of the Wronski faint was talked about even more than the victory itself, particularly the part where Malfoy had painfully hit the ground. Harry couldn't move around the room without someone stopping him to wring his hand and congratulate him, or throw their arms around him and tell him how brilliant he was. Harry himself was having a great time, laughing and joking with everyone else, and even Hermione had been caught up in the atmosphere and was talking animatedly to Katie Bell about her excellent goals.

There was only one person missing from his celebration, however, and that was Cedric. The moment they had shared at the end of the match made it clear that Cedric thought Harry should be spending with time with his House this evening, but even so, Harry wanted to share his success with his boyfriend, particularly considering he was the one who had helped calm his nerves and give him his confidence. It upset him slightly that he couldn't see Cedric, something that Ron seemed to have picked up on.

'You can always talk to him about it tomorrow,' Ron said, patting him on the shoulder.

'I know,' Harry replied. 'It's just I'm sure he'd want to be here, but how would we explain that away? An opposing Seeker celebrating our Quidditch victory?' He sighed, and once more regretted the system of Sorting that Hogwarts used.

'Well,' said Ron. 'You could always sneak out under the Invisibility Cloak to see him.'

Harry looked at it and raised his eyebrows. 'I could do, but that involves getting to my dormitory, and in case you haven't noticed, I can hardly move in here without someone grabbing me and telling me how wonderful I am.'

'Yeah, that must be terrible,' said Ron sarcastically. Harry opened his mouth to reply, but remembered that his fame was still something of a sore point with his best friend and so decided not to. 'Tell you what then, I'll cause a distraction and you can slip away.'

'A distraction? You?' Harry asked, and Ron grinned. He darted across the room, drawing his wand, and directed it into the air, creating a huge stream of red and gold sparks that illuminated the room. Everyone looked over at the light and the noise, and in that split second, Harry left his seat and sprinted across the room, up the stairs and to his dormitory. It was empty and so he padded across to his trunk, opened it and grabbed his Cloak. As he straightened up, he glanced out of the window. What he saw made him stop dead and stare.

The sun was setting rapidly at this point, and the moon was beginning to rise into the sky. The leaves on the trees were beginning to fall, creating a patchwork of colours that drifted slowly to the ground. But it was not this that had drawn Harry's attention. It was the man who was striding purposefully across the grounds towards the castle. He was a slightly short man, and was wearing a bizarre collection of clothes. His white linen suit looked terribly out of place at Hogwarts, but what drew Harry's eye was the white panama hat that was perched on his head. He could still remember the words that had been spoken to him five weeks ago. "Don't trust the man in the white hat". Was this that man that the older version of Cedric had been talking about? Making a split second decision, Harry pulled the cloak around himself, and ran out of the dormitory, across the Common Room, out of Gryffindor tower and onto the Grand Staircase, heading for the Entrance Hall as quickly as he could possibly go. He barely registered as he passed Hermione say to Ron, 'Is it me or is it getting cold in here?'

When he got to the Ground Floor, he saw the stranger walking through the Entrance Hall, and so he dived down the corridor where he and Cedric had talked earlier that day, to avoid any possible contact with him. The man passed by quietly and Harry followed him as he made his way across the Entrance Hall to the Grand Staircase and began to ascend. Harry wondered where he was going, but he knew that there was only one way to find out and so padded up the staircase after him. When they got the Second Floor they left the staircase and Harry realised that they must be heading for Dumbledore's office. Was this man known to the Headmaster? Harry knew that Dumbledore had some extremely odd friends, perhaps this was one of them. But then why would Cedric tell him not to trust this man?

The stranger stopped in front of the gargoyle that guarded the office, cleared his throat loudly and said, 'Open up, it's me.' Harry tried not to snort at that, it was hardly likely that the guardians of Dumbledore's office would react kindly to that. It was a great shock, therefore, when the gargoyle leapt aside and the man entered the office. Harry hurried forward, trying to get into the office behind him, but he was too late and the entrance had slammed shut before he could make it. He cursed quietly to himself, and slumped against the wall beside the entrance, waiting for the man to come back out again. He waited for several minutes and then heard footsteps again, and the gargoyle swung back once more and the stranger emerged, walking purposefully again towards the Grand Staircase. Harry followed him once more.

This time they stayed on the Staircase all the way to the Seventh Floor. Harry wondered whether he was heading to Gryffindor tower, but soon it became clear that they were instead heading for Professor Trelawney's classroom. What on earth could this man want with her, he thought to himself; if he believed in Divination then Cedric was right that they shouldn't trust him. The man ascended the ladder to the classroom, while Harry hung back, considering whether to follow him. Deciding that he couldn't really climb the ladder silently while keeping the cloak around him, he turned round and headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room, his mind racing.

He hurried back across the Common Room, being careful not to run into anyone, and back to his dormitory, where he waited at the window to see the man leave once more. Harry was surprised to see that a deep frost appeared to fallen in the time he had been gone, and the usual sound of birdsong was conspicuously absent. After about ten or fifteen minutes, he saw the strangely-dressed man walking across the grounds once again. He was clearly heading for the Forbidden Forest, and Harry wondered why on earth he was going there. He continued to stare out the window long after the stranger had vanished into the distance, and then decided that there was nothing more to be done, and went back downstairs, storing his Cloak safely back in his trunk as he did so.

He found Ron and Hermione hunched over a table whispering quietly. 'Are you two all right?' he asked as he found them. They turned to look at him with puzzled expressions.

'Fine,' Hermione replied. 'But...this is weird. We've just received this message. It flew out of the fire just like that one a few weeks ago. Here look.'

Harry took it and read. It said: _Dear Harry – it's good to see you taking an interest in my affairs but I must ask you not to follow me round the castle next time. Not only is it past your curfew, but there are things that I must do alone, without distraction. King regards, M._ Harry gaped at this, and looked up at Ron and Hermione. How on earth could this stranger, if the message was indeed from him, have known that Harry was following him under the Invisibility Cloak? 'I think I'd better tell you what's just happened,' he said.


	11. Chapter 9 - Shadows From the Past I

**Author Notes** – Bit of a change of pace in this chapter, the main storyline will be back soon, but I thought it was important to provide some back story for this fic, and I've been planning this element of the story since the beginning. Hope you enjoy it, and as always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

**Rating** – T.

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER NINE**

_Shadows from the Past I_

They stayed up late into the night, and Harry told Ron and Hermione all about the man he had followed, as well as a little of what Moody had told him after Lockhart's death, as much as he thought he could impart without breaking his word with his teacher. He was deliberately vague about where he had got the warning to beware the man in the white hat, and luckily they didn't press him on it, because he was still determined to keep his promise to Cedric and not tell anyone that he had seen him. They had agreed that there was little they could do about it at the moment considering how busy they all were, but that Harry should just continue to follow Moody's instructions. As for this mysterious stranger, if he was a friend of Dumbledore as appeared likely by the way he had been admitted to the Headmaster's office without the password then it seemed they had little choice but to trust Dumbledore's judgement, at least for the time being. Harry was particularly torn on this, he wanted to trust what Cedric had told him about this man, why would he lie after all, but he also instinctively trusted Dumbledore and to have the two conflict left him in a difficult situation.

When they had finally gone to bed, as the sun was beginning to appear on the horizon, Harry struggled to sleep, his mind was working too quickly for him to relax. Eventually he did nod off and didn't wake up again until late morning when Ron threw a pillow at him, telling him that they should have got up by now. He was extremely glad it was Sunday and that he was on top of all his schoolwork for once because he most definitely didn't feeling like concentrating that day. Instead he decided to take a walk in the grounds to get a little fresh air and clear his head. The frost that had fallen the previous night had cleared completely, and it was a bright and crisp day, the warmth of the sun just about still getting through before winter descended completely. He couldn't help noticing, however, that the usual sound of birds and other animals was still absent from the air.

As he passed the spot on the lake where he and Cedric had sat only a few weeks ago, he was surprised to see his boyfriend sitting there, leaning against the tree, and reading what looked like a scroll of parchment. Harry's spirits lifted considerably at the sight of him, and he hurried over to join him. 'Hey,' he said, and sat down next to him.

Cedric jumped at the sound of his voice, and hurriedly stuffed the parchment back inside his robes when he saw Harry. 'Harry, you frightened the life out of me. What are you doing here?' he asked, sounding almost annoyed.

Harry frowned. 'Just taking a walk in the grounds, a bit of fresh air and all that. Sorry, I didn't realise I was bothering you.'

Cedric's expression softened considerably, and he put his arm around Harry. 'No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I was just a bit surprised that's all.' He kissed Harry on the cheek, and smiled. 'It's good to see you, I'm surprised you're not still in the Gryffindor Common Room surrounded by your adoring fans. You were fantastic by the way.'

'Thanks,' Harry replied, and kissed Cedric on the lips. 'It's all thanks to you really, you calmed me down a lot. And also...' He paused for a moment. 'There was an element of wanting to impress you as well, hence the whole Wronski faint thing.'

'Well, you can probably guess that I was quite impressed. Makes me think I'm going to have to put in a little bit of training before we play each other. Otherwise I might not win as easily as everyone is expecting me too.' They both laughed at this.

'So,' said Harry, remembering the parchment that Cedric had been reading. 'What was that you put away so quickly just then?'

Cedric shifted uncomfortably. 'Erm...'

Harry realised that this was not something that Cedric wanted to talk about. 'Is there something wrong? Why didn't you want me to see it?'

Cedric seemed very uncertain as to what he should say, he started knotting his hands together and wouldn't look Harry straight in the eye. 'Listen Harry, it's...er...no. Actually, tell you what, this is a conversation we should have. I wasn't going to tell you but you have a right to know I think.'

This intrigued Harry a great deal. 'Right to know what?' he asked, wondering what on earth it could be that Cedric had been keeping from him. He hoped it was nothing too bad, he had had enough of those sorts of secrets to deal with in one lifetime.

'Not here,' Cedric said. 'Meet me in the Entrance Hall after dinner and we'll go the Prefects' Common Room and talk about it there. All right?' Harry nodded, feeling slightly disappointed that he would have to wait all day to find out what was going on. 'Listen, I'd better get going, I'm supposed to be meeting James for lunch and he'll just moan if I'm late. See you later?' He smiled, and pecked Harry on the lips, before heading off the castle.

Harry sat there in silence for a few minutes, thinking about Cedric's odd behaviour, and what it could possibly mean. It was not like Cedric to keep secrets from him, and he could hardly imagine him having anything particular unpleasant to hide, he was just too nice for that sort of thing. But then again, it was clearly something that he wanted to discuss privately, where there was no chance of being overheard. I suppose I'll find out later, he thought, and headed back to the Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

Harry waited in the Entrance Hall that evening as Cedric had asked him to, but there was no sign of his boyfriend. He checked his watch, it had been twenty minutes since dinner had ended and yet Cedric still hadn't turned up. He was beginning to get a little worried when he saw Cedric hurrying along the corridor from the Hufflepuff Common Room, looking stressed and worn out. 'Sorry,' he said, giving Harry a quick kiss on the cheek. 'One of my friends was having a minor breakdown, she's got boyfriend trouble.'

'Really?' Harry said. 'Well, not everyone can be so lucky with their choice of boyfriend.' Cedric smiled, seemingly reassured that Harry wasn't annoyed with his lateness. 'So then, Prefects' Common Room?'

Cedric nodded and they walked there hand-in-hand, but Harry couldn't help feeling a little bit apprehensive about whatever it was they were going to be talking about. Cedric seemed to be being as affectionate as usual, so that had allayed his concerns that it was something to do with their relationship, but he still had an uneasy feeling.

When they arrived at the room, Cedric insisted on the usual routine that Harry make himself comfortable while he made drinks for them. When they were both seated on the sofa with a goblet of pumpkin juice each, Cedric reached inside his robes and produced the piece of parchment had been reading by the lake that morning. 'Now then,' he said, sounding matter-of-fact and scarily like Hermione. 'I got this letter this morning completely out of the blue, which was a bit shocking actually. Here, have a read and then I'll explain everything.'

Harry took the parchment and opened it, trying to stop his hands from shaking too obviously. He recognised the writing from somewhere, but he couldn't remember where. Unravelling it completely, he started to read.

_Dear Cedric,_

_I've been struggling to decide whether to write to you for ages, but I thought it was about time that I just bit the bullet and did it. This isn't an easy thing for me to write, and I hope you'll understand why._

_I hope everything is treating you well at Hogwarts. I heard about your OWL results by the way, which were superb. As for me, being in Puddlemere United is exhausting and exhilarating all at once. I still think you should consider Quidditch when you leave school as well, but we've had that conversation before and I've never managed to convince you. _

_Anyway, the point of this letter is not all that, I'm just putting off what I really need to write to be honest. I realised recently that I never said sorry to you. Sorry about the way things turned out between us, sorry for the way I behaved when you told me you loved me, sorry for being unable to accept who I was. I don't expect you to forgive me because I haven't yet been able to forgive myself, but I hope that one day you might be able to and that we can be friends again, because your friendship means a great deal to me, and I would hate to lose it because of how I behaved. Take some time and maybe we can talk again soon?_

_Yours,_

_Oliver._

Harry stared at the last word and felt his stomach drop through the floor. Now he knew where he recognised the handwriting from. He thought back to the conversation that he and Cedric had had on the Quidditch pitch all those weeks ago. So that's what he had meant by "history" with Oliver. He looked up at Cedric, who was chewing his bottom lip looking nervous. 'Oliver?' he asked, seeking confirmation even though he already knew what the answer was going to be. 'Oliver Wood?'

Cedric nodded. 'Oliver,' he repeated. 'When you asked me if I'd ever had a boyfriend and I said "sort of", I meant Oliver.'

Harry was struggling to take this in. Not only did it turn out the ex-captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team was gay, he had been seeing Cedric and from the sounds of it, when Harry himself had been at Hogwarts and playing in Oliver's team. 'I can't believe it. So, you and him were...?' Cedric nodded again. 'But when? How? Why didn't you tell me?'

'Because I didn't think it was my place to reveal Oliver's sexuality. But after getting this letter, I decided that you had a right to know. I'm sure he'd understand.' Harry gaped again, his mouth working and no sound coming out. He still had no idea what to think, the shock was still too real. 'Listen Harry, you've every right to be annoyed and angry with me for not telling you, but I'm asking you to wait until I tell you the story of what happened.'

Harry thought about it. Yes, he was annoyed and angry, but in the end he trusted Cedric, and believed that he would only hide something like this out of a sense of honour and respect, and not in any way to deceive him. Cedric had never given Harry any reason to distrust him before now, and so he decided to let him tell the story. He just nodded.

'Thank you,' Cedric said, looking relieved. 'We may as well make ourselves comfortable because this could take a while...'

* * *

Cedric had no idea why the Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team wanted to see him, so urgently indeed that he had had to excuse himself from Professor Flitwick explaining how vitally important the OWL exams they would be in taking in nearly two years time were. He didn't like missing lessons, particularly now he was well into his fourth year. The workload would really start to mount from here, and he wanted to be on top of it. Professor Sprout has seemed insistent, however, and so here he was walking to her office with no earthly idea why.

When he got there, the Captain, whose name was Michael Vaughn, was already waiting for him. 'Ah, Diggory, thanks for coming.' He shook Cedric's hand and directed him to a chair, where Cedric sat, feeling extremely apprehensive. 'Now then, I'll get straight to the point. You might have heard that the Hufflepuff Seeker has had to take some time off for injury reasons.' Cedric nodded, having heard about the especially nasty Bludger injury in the Common Room a few days ago. 'While he recovers, we need a new Seeker to take over. I spoke to Madam Hooch whose been monitoring people's progress in flying lessons, and she suggested you. So will you accept?'

Cedric couldn't believe what he was hearing. Yes, it was true that he enjoyed flying and was reasonably good at it, but this had come as a complete shock. He had never thought that Madam Hooch would recommend him for the position of Seeker, he had occasionally considered trying out for one of the Chasers, but not Seeker. But this was hardly an offer he could refuse and so he found himself saying. 'Er...OK. Yes, I accept.'

'Excellent,' said Michael, smiling broadly and patting him on the shoulder. 'Welcome to the team, I'm sure you'll fit in brilliantly.' He handed Cedric a scroll of parchment. 'Here, I printed off the training schedule for you.' Cedric took the parchment and examined it, there seemed to be a lot of evenings dedicated to Quidditch training. 'I'll see you at the next one then,' continued Michael.

Cedric nodded and found his legs carrying him towards the door, he was still too shocked to be in complete control of them. 'Er, yes, thank you very much.' And with that he was standing outside the office again, thinking that he had no idea what he'd just let himself in for.

At dinner that evening, Cedric could barely concentrate on his food. Luckily the shock had gradually been replaced with a feeling of something much more positive, he felt genuinely excited about the prospect of being the Hufflepuff Seeker, it was such a great opportunity. It also meant that he was the centre of attention at the Hufflepuff table, he could barely manage a mouthful of food without someone coming up and congratulating him, telling him that he'd be brilliant and, in one embarrassing encounter, one girl told him that she wanted to marry him, an offer that he had politely declined.

He had just about managed to finish his lasagne when he felt yet another person tap him on the shoulder. He turned and saw Oliver Wood, the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team standing beside him. Cedric dropped his fork accidentally at the sight of him, and it fell to the table with a loud clatter. 'Oh hi,' Cedric said, trying not to look too embarrassed. He always got like this whenever an attractive man was around, and Oliver was one of the best looking men he had ever seen. He was a tall, well-built, Quidditch-obsessed and all-round gorgeous sixth year, what more could anyone want?

'Hey,' said Oliver, grinning at him, which made Cedric's heart flutter and he could feel his face reddening. 'Listen, just wanted to say congratulations on being made Seeker, I've seen you play a couple of times and you've got real talent.' Cedric could help smiling broadly at the compliment, though he sensed he may now be the same colour as the strawberry jelly in the bowl next to him. 'Anyway,' Wood continued. 'Just wanted to say well done, and good luck against Ravenclaw.' With that, he was gone, heading back to the Gryffindor table.

'Oh for God's sake,' said James, rolling his eyes from across the table. 'Do you have to be quite so painfully obvious?'

'I've no idea what you're talking about,' said Cedric in his best innocent tone.

'Yes, you do. Honestly, since you came out to me, you've been absolutely boy-mad. You can't even look an attractive one without losing all social skills and grace. And well played with the fork by the way, that really was something.'

Cedric shot him a dark look, and returned to his pudding bowl. James was right on some level, he had to be admit, Oliver was stunningly attractive and Cedric hadn't done a very good job of hiding that he thought so. It's just so unfair, he thought bitterly to himself, stabbing his jelly as aggressively as possible with his spoon, why do all the best men have to be straight?

* * *

Like everyone else, Cedric was surprised and disappointed when the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match was cancelled. After they had narrowly beaten Ravenclaw, he had been looking forward to trying out his skills against the famous Harry Potter. But when Professor Sprout had burst into the changing rooms and declared the match had been postponed indefinitely before hurrying back out again, the entire team knew what must have happened; there had been another attack on a student, and so there was no prospect of them actually completing this match for the foreseeable future.

They got changed back into their school robes in silence. Just as they were leaving to go back to the Hufflepuff Common Room, Cedric decided to check to see if there was anyone still in the other changing room where the Gryffindor team had been. To his surprise, he found Oliver Wood sitting there on his own, staring at his hands with a fixed and unreadable expression. Cedric considered turning around and leaving him to his thoughts, but in the end, he decided that Oliver looked as though he needed the company.

He had seen Oliver a few times since he had become Hufflepuff Seeker, but never more than a nod in the corridor, or a brief conversation. At least now he might have a chance to have a proper talk with him without thoroughly embarrassing himself, he thought.

'Hey,' Cedric said, and Oliver jumped. He scowled at the sight of him, which wasn't a very positive start, but then his expression softened somewhat.

'Oh, hi Cedric,' he replied, looking thoroughly depressed. Cedric sighed and sat down on the bench next to him. 'What are you doing here?' Oliver continued.

'Just thought I'd check if anyone was still in here,' he said, trying to sound nonchalant. 'Any more news on the attack do you know?'

Oliver nodded. 'It was Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater apparently.' Cedric felt a dull thud in his stomach at this news. Although he didn't really know either of these girls, putting names to it suddenly made the whole situation a lot more real. He remembered well how shocked everyone in Hufflepuff had been when one of their own was attacked earlier in the year, he could easily imagine what the other Houses were going through right now.

'How's Harry taking it?' he asked, knowing that it was something of a redundant question.

'About as well as you'd expect,' Oliver said flatly. He shifted slightly in his seat, with a result that he moved a little closer to Cedric. 'But it doesn't look like we'll playing Quidditch any time soon. It's a shame, I wanted to see how you and Harry would match up.'

'Yeah well, there's always time for that next year.' Oliver nodded, and Cedric couldn't help noticing that his eyes were shining considerably. 'What's the matter?' he asked.

Oliver was silent for a moment, as though debating whether to tell Cedric or not. 'It's just...whenever something like this happens, makes you think about your priorities. I've been so engrossed in Quidditch over the last couple of years I've forgotten what other things are important.' He sighed heavily, and Cedric realised that this was seriously upsetting him.

'It's all right,' Cedric said quickly. 'Everyone's got their passions and –

'It's not just that,' Oliver interrupted, and Cedric fell silent, deciding it was best to let Oliver say whatever it was he needed to. 'It's made me think about myself as well, and how I need to stop running away from things. After what's happened, I've realised that nobody knows what's coming round the corner, there's so much of life that we can't control, but I seem to have lost control of even those parts of it I should be able to control.'

Cedric, before he even realised what he was doing, reached across and placed his hand on top of Oliver's, who looked over and into Cedric's eyes. There was a beat, a moment of complete silence, and then Oliver leaned over and planted a kiss on his lips. Cedric was stunned for a moment, but then began to reciprocate, and soon they were kissing feverishly, as though this would be their only chance. A few moments later, Cedric felt Oliver push him away, and the moment was broken completely. He opened his eyes again and saw Oliver looking at him, with an expression that was a mix of shock and disgust. 'I've got to go,' he said, grabbing his Quidditch equipment and hurrying from the changing room as quickly as possible.

Cedric just sat there on the bench, waiting for his breathing and heart rate to return to normal, hardly daring to believe what had just happened. But then he thought of the look on Oliver's face when they had broken apart. 'Shit,' he muttered to himself, wondering what the consequences of this were going to be.

That evening, as Cedric was leaving the Great Hall to go back to the Hufflepuff Common Room, he almost collided with Oliver, who had clearly been waiting for him to emerge for some time. 'Can I have a quick word?' Oliver asked. Cedric glanced at James, who shrugged and carried on down the corridor.

'OK, sure,' Cedric replied, not knowing what to expect. Oliver glanced over his shoulder, where more people were starting to leave the Hall, and so gestured down one of the side corridors. Cedric obediently followed, until they were well out of sight and earshot.

'Listen,' said Oliver, glancing around nervously, as though afraid someone might appear and see them at any moment. 'About what happened earlier...I think we both agree that it was a mistake. Emotions were running high and all that...'

'Oh,' said Cedric, trying to sound casual, even though inside he felt a great sense of disappointment. He had known that Oliver would probably say that, but even so, a little part of him had hoped that there was something genuine there, and for Oliver to pass it off as a mistake, brought on by stress and emotion, was upsetting, particularly after everything he had said earlier about wanting to be himself and regain control of his life. 'Sure, of course,' he continued. 'I get it, I mean you're not even into men are you?'

Oliver didn't reply, he just stared down the corridor for a moment, before saying, 'Good, I'm glad we're agreed on that. Just didn't want to confuse you or anything.' And with that, he started back down the corridor to the Entrance Hall. Just before he disappeared from sight, he paused and looked round. 'I don't know,' he said, and then vanished round the corner, leaving Cedric feeling confused and disappointed. He had thought, just for a moment, that maybe there was something between them. He'd only recently come to terms with his sexuality, and that kiss with Oliver had been his first. It upset him greatly that it seemed to have been wasted.

* * *

He largely avoided Oliver for the rest of that year. Whenever he came near the older boy, he would conveniently remember that he needed to go somewhere in the opposite direction, and take off at speed. He wasn't angry as such, he just didn't need a constant reminder of what might have been. On the odd occasion when they actually spoke to each other, their conversations were short and formal, and they quickly found reasons why they needed to be elsewhere or doing other things. This pattern continued right the way through the summer term, even with the revelations about the Chamber of Secrets and the resolution of the attacks.

And so it was that Cedric found himself on the last day of term, ready to head down to Hogsmeade Station to catch the Hogwarts Express back to London. It had been a manic last few weeks, particularly when Dumbledore had realised the logistical difficulty of cancelling everyone's end-of-year exams and they had to do them all anyway. He had got through with good marks, but he was tired and ready for a holiday.

Just as he was about to get into one of the horseless carriages that would take to the Hogwarts Express, someone grabbed his shoulder from behind. He turned and saw Oliver looking at him. Cedric wasn't entirely sure how to react, he could have just carried on and got into the carriage, but something about the look in Oliver's eye made him think that he needed to hear what the older boy had to say. 'I need to talk to you,' Oliver said.

'Right,' said Cedric. 'Where shall we go?' Oliver gestured to one of the empty carriages, and Cedric followed him to it. They went inside, Cedric closing the door behind them, and sat facing each other.

'How are you?' Oliver asked, looking at the floor of the carriage.

'Not bad,' Cedric replied, feeling the awkwardness of the situation, these carriages were a lot more cramped than he was remembered, and he was not enjoying being so close to Oliver. 'Looking forward to the holiday, it's been a long year.'

'Tell me about it...' There was a long pause, and Cedric considered saying something, but decided against it. 'Listen,' Oliver continued finally, 'I'm sorry about how I reacted when...when it happened. It was silly and immature of me.'

'Yes it was,' Cedric agreed. 'But I get it, you were confused. Believe me, I've been through the same thing myself. But you can't keep running away forever.'

'I know. God, I can't believe I'm being told this by someone two years younger than me.'

'Age is no guarantee of wisdom Oliver, we all have to deal with these things at different times in our lives. But yes, you upset me with how you reacted. And do you know why?' Oliver shook his head. 'Because I like you, you idiot. I really like you.'

There was another moment of silence, and then Oliver said, 'I think I like you too. I just need a little bit more time.' He finally looked Cedric into the eyes at that point. 'Listen, it's the summer holidays now. Let's take some time to clear our heads and then see where things are.'

Cedric smiled, for the first time it seemed in quite a while. 'I think that's a good idea. There's no need to rush anything, you have to remember this is all a bit new for me as well.'

Oliver nodded. 'I'll write to you then, if that's all right?' Cedric nodded, and Oliver got up to leave the carriage. Before opening the door, he bent down and gave Cedric a quick kiss on the lips. 'See you in September.'

'Count on it,' Cedric replied, and Oliver smiled as he opened the door and clambered out of the carriage. A few seconds later, Cedric followed him. It didn't take him long to relocate James and his other friends, and soon they were all in a carriage of their own heading for Hogsmeade Station. Cedric couldn't help but smile through the whole journey.

**TO BE CONTINUED.**


	12. Chapter 10 - Shadows From the Past II

**Author Notes** – One of my favourite chapters so far this one. Hope you like it, we're be back to the main storyline in the next chapter. As always, thanks for reading.

**Rating** – T.

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER TEN**

_Shadows from the Past II_

'So let me get this clear in my head,' Harry said, and Cedric paused in his story to take a swig of pumpkin juice. 'When you and Oliver parted at the end of your fourth year, you were sort of maybe in a relationship...of sorts perhaps.'

'I suppose you could put in like that,' Cedric replied. 'Though perhaps that's too simple.' Harry realised he was being facetious, and couldn't help but grin. 'So, yes, at the end of the year, Oliver told me that he wanted to see where things took us. Now as you can probably imagine I was a little bit sceptical considering his earlier behaviour.'

'I get it,' Harry cut in. 'So did he write to you over the summer in the end?'

'He did,' Cedric said, and from his robes he produced another roll of parchment. 'I thought I'd got rid of all the letters but I found this one at the bottom of my trunk the other day. I must have just thrown it in there and forgotten about it.' He handed it to Harry who took it and opened it. 'Take a look.'

_Dear Cedric,_

_Hope the holiday is treating you well. We're having a great time in Italy, my younger brother caused a bit of a stir when he accidentally corrected the lean of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but luckily Mum was able to put it right before anyone could say anything. How was your holiday in Egypt? I've always wanted to go but we haven't got round to it yet. I want to hear all about it in your letter back._

_I've also had a great to deal of time to do some thinking about us. If I'm being totally honest I haven't been able to get you out of my head. Even when we're visiting some famous landmark or eating in these amazing restaurants, I just find myself thinking that I wish you were with me. I do wish you were here, I miss you a lot. I don't think I've ever looked forward to going back to Hogwarts more than I do now, just to see you._

_Anyway I'd better go now because we've got an early start tomorrow morning. Hope to hear from you soon._

_Oliver xxx_

Harry finished the letter and handed it back to Cedric, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. What Oliver had described pretty much summed up exactly how Harry himself felt about Cedric, and it bothered him that anyone else felt that way, even it had been quite a while ago. Was this jealously, he thought to himself, as he contemplated this entirely new emotion. He had never felt jealous in this way before, he might be envious of Ron's family life, or Hermione's brilliance, but he had never felt romantic jealousy before.

Cedric seemed to realise what Harry was thinking. 'Hey listen,' he said, placing his arm around Harry's shoulder. 'I know what you must be thinking, but you need to know that this is all over now. It was a long time ago, before I'd even met you...and now, well let's just say that Oliver doesn't even register on my radar compared to you.' Harry looked at him, and could tell that he meant it. He smiled, and Cedric smiled back.

'Damn,' Harry muttered. 'I wonder what I must have done to deserve someone as fantastic as you.' Cedric blushed a little, and admonished him with a light punch on the arm. 'Seriously though,' Harry continued. 'You're completely brilliant.' They lost several seconds to kissing at that, until eventually Cedric broke off.

'Now then, you've got to let me finish the story, otherwise we'll never get to the end.' Harry pulled a fake sulking expression at the prospect of no more kissing. Cedric sighed and gave him another quick peck on the lips. 'Honestly, I can never resist your fake pout.'

'You love it,' Harry said with a flirtatious wink.

'No, I'm very annoyed now, in fact I may not offer you another biscuit.' There was a pronounced pause. 'Oh go on then,' he relented, passing Harry the tin, who took a ginger nut and nibbled it lightly, looking at Cedric expectantly.

'Not then, where was I?' said Cedric theatrically. Harry rolled his eyes. 'Ah yes, the summer holidays. Well, let's just say that it was a restless few weeks for me, not knowing what to expect when I got back to school. I desperately wanted to talk to Oliver and quite by chance I bumped into him on the Hogwarts Express...'

* * *

Cedric was scouring the train looking for Oliver, but so far he had had no luck at all, and was beginning to get a little disheartened. It had been nearly two months since he had last seen him and, apart from the occasional letter, there had been very little contact between the two of them. Cedric had to admit that he missed the older boy, and now that he had a chance to see him, he wasn't going to waste any time at all. He had rather unceremoniously left James and his other friends in another compartment, saying that he desperately needed to use the toilet, and set off down the train, looking in every section for Oliver. He had been gone over ten minutes now, so his absence must have become quite conspicuous.

He was just about to give up and return to his friends when he spotted the object of his quest tucked away in a small compartment at the back of the train. Cedric couldn't quite believe his luck that Oliver was just sitting there alone, as though he was waiting for him. He hurried forward, undid the catch on the carriage door, and entered the compartment. Oliver looked up when he heard the door open, and when he saw Cedric his face split into a wide smile. He leapt to his feet and they embraced, each clinging to the other after so long apart.

'Well now,' said Oliver when they broke apart several seconds later. 'Fancy seeing you here.' He gestured to the seat and across from him and Cedric sat down, feeling apprehensive. 'So how was your summer?' Oliver continued, sounding casual.

'Not bad, you know how it is,' Cedric replied. 'I...er...missed you.'

'I missed you too,' Oliver said and smiled. 'Here, I brought you something back from Italy.' He opened his trunk and rummaged around inside for a moment, before producing a small wrapped parcel, which he handed to Cedric, who took it, not having expected this gesture at all. With his hands shaking slightly, he unwrapped it delicately. Inside was a small ornamental Golden Snitch, complete with silver wings. Cedric lifted it up and examined it closely, it looked very fragile but was beautifully made, down to the last detail. 'It's a speciality in Italy,' Oliver explained. 'Their ornaments are all of that quality.'

Cedric found his voice catching his throat, and so couldn't say anything for a moment. He quickly regained his composure. 'Thank you,' he said. 'I wasn't expecting...I mean, that's really kind of you.' He checked that no one could see into the carriage before leaning forward and giving Oliver a quick kiss on the lips. 'Great, I wish I'd thought of bringing something back from Egypt for you now.'

Oliver waved his hand. 'Don't be silly, I hadn't planned this or anything. We were just looking round a shop and I saw it and thought of you. My Seeker,' he finished simply.

'Careful now. With talk like that, your team might think your fraternising with the enemy. Seriously though, thank you. That's really thoughtful.' He put the Snitch back inside its wrapping and tucked it safely inside his robes. 'I promise I'll look after it.' They sat looking at each other for a moment in silence, Cedric choosing his next words very carefully. 'So, have you had any thoughts about...you know, where things are between us?' There was a noise outside and they both looked over, there was a confused looking Gryffindor standing outside gesturing to Oliver and then to the lock on the door.

'Ah,' said Oliver, getting to his feet. 'There's Jordan.'

'I'd better go then,' Cedric said, and Oliver nodded. It was fairly clear that he was very uncomfortable with anyone seeing them together. 'I'll see you around yeah?' Oliver nodded again, carefully avoiding eye contact, and Cedric opened the compartment door and strode off quickly down to the corridor. He heard Oliver apologising to his friend before he was out of earshot. He didn't know what to think now, Oliver had been so thoughtful with the gift he had given him, but as soon as his friend appeared, it was like Cedric was a complete stranger. Perhaps things were not going to be simple as he had thought just a few minutes previously.

He quickly found his way back to his own compartment, where James was sitting with his feet on his trunk, lazily flicking his wand back and forth, making a Chocolate Frog fly through the air. Cedric watched it for a moment, before drawing his own wand and pointing it a frog. There was a crackle of energy and it turned into a carrot. 'There, much more healthy,' he said, and James snorted with disgust. Cedric bent down. 'You dropped the card that comes with it.' He took a quick look at the wizard on the front who he recognised from the shoulder length brown hair and silver waistcoat, before handing it to James. 'Him again.' James grunted and dropped the card into his trunk.

They passed the journey mostly in silence. Cedric preferred it this way, he was still thinking about his encounter with Oliver. He reached into his robes and pulled out the Snitch, examining it again. It really was beautiful, and Cedric clutched it tightly in his hand. At that moment, there was an almighty crash, and the train began to rapidly slow down. The Snitch tumbled out of his hands and rolled under the seat as the door of the compartment slid slowly open. Cedric dived to the floor to retrieve it, and when he staggered to his feet again, the train had come to a complete standstill.

'What the hell's going on?' said James. Cedric could feel the temperature dropping significantly, ice was forming on the outside window. He felt a sudden wave of cold dread hit him, and he saw in his mind an image of his thirteenth birthday, and he relived again the feeling of utter despair as he stared at the candles and wished that he could just run away and hide from himself, that gay Cedric would just go away and die.

He looked over at James, who was lying back in his seat, his eyes rolled up into his head, and a terrified expression on his face. Cedric knew what was happening, but he couldn't quite believe it. He got another shock when there was another crash from outside the compartment and Oliver came barrelling inside, shaking uncontrollably, his face white. 'Cedric,' he breathed, collapsing into Cedric's arms, who supported him. 'Dementors.'

'Oliver, Oliver!' Cedric said, shaking him. 'Listen to me, what are we going to do?'

'I don't know,' Oliver whispered, his breathing become much heavier. 'Listen, I'm sorry about earlier, I shouldn't have just blanked you like that when I saw Jordan.'

'Don't worry about that now,' Cedric replied, feeling both annoyed and a little touched that even at a time like this, Oliver was worried about having upset Cedric. He helped Oliver stand up and supported him over a seat, where he sat down gingerly. There was a hissing sound from nearby accompanied by the noise of a billowing cloak. 'They're here.'

The Dementor appeared in the doorway to the compartment. Its rattling breath drew all the remaining warmth from the air as it stepped into their space. It turned to each of them in turn before settling on Cedric. It moved closer, and Cedric could feel all his bad memories threatening to overwhelm him, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Then, all of a sudden, Oliver snapped into action. Getting to his feet, he produced his wand from inside his robes, and pointed it straight at the Dementor, which was now only a few inches from Cedric.

'_Expecto Patronum!_' Oliver yelled. A silver lion erupted from the end of his wand and charged the Dementor, driving it back out of the compartment. The lights flickered back on, and the warmth began to return to the air. Cedric saw Oliver's face appear in his vision as he began to regain his senses. 'Are you all right?' he asked, his voice creased with concern. Cedric nodded slowly, and Oliver pulled him upright and into a hug.

After a few seconds, James cleared his throat loudly. They broke apart, and both looked at him, feeling embarrassed. 'Sorry,' James said, looking awkward himself. 'It's just I thought I should check that you were both all right.'

'I'd better go and check on my friends,' Oliver said. Cedric nodded, and Oliver began to move towards the door. He paused, looked at James for a moment, and then walked back and kissed Cedric deeply. Cedric was slightly taken aback, and a second later, Oliver was hurrying out of the compartment.

He looked at James, who raised his eyebrows. 'I think you've got some explaining to do,' he said. Cedric sighed and sat back down as the train sputtered back into life.

* * *

Cedric sat down in the Great Hall on the morning of the first Quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, and stared grimly at the ceiling; the rain was coming down thick and fast now, and there were flashes of lightning every few seconds that illuminated the enchanted ceiling. He wasn't looking forward to playing the match in these conditions but knew better than to think it might be cancelled. It had been something of a surprise when he had been summoned to Professor Sprout's office and told he would be the new Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team. Considering that he had only been made Seeker a year ago, this was a very fast promotion, and he hadn't had much time putting together the team he wanted for this match, and the prospect of playing a Gryffindor team at the peak of its ability was not something he was relishing.

The last few weeks, however, had been extremely happy for Cedric. After the incident on the train, Oliver and he had grown much closer, and now they spent a lot of time together. Whenever they had a spare moment, they would get together and spend their time talking, or even just sitting in the library together and working. Their relationship was still a strict secret, however, with only James knowing and, although they were very much together, Oliver was still reluctant to label it anything, he certainly never referred to Cedric as his boyfriend, a fact that was beginning to frustrate him. There had been some tension between them for several days, and Cedric put this down to the impending match when their two teams would be competing head-to-head, and given how seriously they both took Quidditch, it was perfectly natural that this would be an awkward time for them.

He looked over at the Gryffindor table and could see Oliver huddled together with the rest of his team, and they were talking quietly. Oliver looked up and saw Cedric watching him. Cedric smiled and quickly returned to his breakfast, not wanting Oliver to think he was trying to hear what they were discussing. At about ten, he got up from the table, collected his Quidditch robes and broomstick from his dormitory, and headed for the changing rooms to get ready for the match.

It didn't go as he had expected. He knew that being bigger than Harry Potter would have been an advantage in these conditions, but he hadn't been expecting the sudden appearance of the Dementors, and certainly he hadn't been prepared for Harry to fall from his broom. He could remember the exact moment, just after he had caught the Snitch in his glove, looking back and seeing Harry falling towards the ground. He had felt a dull thud in his stomach, but he knew there was nothing he could do, and it was a great relief when he saw the younger boy slow and land gracefully on the ground, unconscious. So, here he was, waiting outside the Hospital Wing for Oliver, who was inside consoling Harry on their team's loss.

He heard the door open and Oliver stepped out, looking dishevelled and extremely upset. When he saw Cedric, his face lightened slightly, but a moment later he frowned again. 'How long have you been waiting there?' he asked.

'About an hour,' Cedric replied, although it had been somewhat closer to two hours. 'I wanted to see if you were all right.'

'Oh, I'm absolutely stunning,' Oliver said sarcastically, and Cedric grimaced a little at his tone. 'Just lost my last chance to win the Quidditch Cup, but apart from that, I'm great.'

'That's not true,' said Cedric quickly. 'You only lost by a hundred points, you can still make that up in the next two matches.' He paused for a moment. 'I went to Madam Hooch and tried to get the result annulled, but she refused.'

'I heard, thank you for that.' Oliver looked so dejected that Cedric didn't really know what to say beyond that. 'Listen, I've really got to go, lots of work to do and all that.'

He began to walk away from Cedric. 'Oliver, wait!' Cedric said, and Oliver turned back. Cedric hurried to catch up with him. 'Come with me.' He took Oliver's hand, who looked round nervously to check that no one was watching them, and led him from the Hospital Wing to the Prefects' Bathroom on the fifth floor.

'What are we doing here?' Oliver asked, as Cedric said the password and the door swung open to reveal the bathroom.

'It's the only place we can go,' Cedric replied, closing the door and locking it. 'I want to spend the night here,' he continued, looking Oliver in the eyes. 'With you.' And so they did.

* * *

Spring was coming at last, Cedric thought as he looked out of the window of the Owlery. The snow was finally beginning to melt and, considering it was now early February, it was well past time. He finished attaching his letter home to his owl, before carrying him over the window and letting him fly away. He turned and made his way back to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

When he got to his dormitory he found James lying on his bed. 'There you are,' James said, getting to his feet. 'Nice to see you without that stupid grin on your face for a change. I bumped into Oliver earlier, he wants to speak to you.'

'Oh right,' said Cedric, and he felt the usual surge of excitement. 'Did he say when?'

'After dinner apparently, he said he'd meet you in the Entrance Hall.'

As Cedric emerged from the Great Hall that evening after dinner, he spotted Oliver standing by the gold hourglasses. He passed Harry Potter heading in the opposite direction, who smiled and nodded at him, as he made his way over to join Oliver. 'Hey,' Cedric said, and clapped Oliver on the shoulder, who shuddered and recoiled slightly. 'What's the matter?' asked Cedric, a sickening feeling developing in his stomach.

'Not here,' Oliver said. 'Let's go outside.' He led the way onto the grounds and out of sight of the main entrance to the castle. Cedric could tell that whatever Oliver wanted to talk about, he wasn't going to like it. They stopped, and Oliver turned to face him. 'I can't do this anymore,' he said simply.

'Can't do what?' Cedric asked, although he had a nasty feeling he knew the answer already.

'Us,' said Oliver, looking down at the ground. 'It's not going to work. We need to end it.' He reached inside his robes and produced a letter that he handed to Cedric. 'I got this today.' Cedric took it, opened it and began to read.

_Oliver,_

_Your mother was sorting through your things the other day when she came across a letter from someone called Cedric. The language used in the letter implied that the two of you were in some sort of romantic relationship. I can only hope that this is some sort of terrible joke, otherwise I will be extremely disappointed in you. I didn't raise you to behave in that way, and I hope you have a good explanation for this letter._

_Father._

'Well he sounds lovely,' said Cedric sarcastically as he finished the letter. 'Don't you see this is a great opportunity for you to come clean about everything.'

'Are you insane?' Oliver said forcefully, and Cedric grimaced, knowing which way this was going to go. 'I can't do that. You read the letter, he'll bloody kill me if he finds out what we've been doing. You don't understand.'

'Oh really do I not?' Cedric said, beginning to get angry now. 'Don't you think I'm worried when my father finds out I'm gay, but it's something I'm going to have to deal with. And so are you, you can't run away forever.'

'I'm not gay,' Oliver muttered. 'I can't be. My family won't allow it.'

'Won't allow it?' repeated Cedric, hardly believing what he was hearing. 'It's not a case of what they'll allow. You're gay Oliver, I think what we were doing the other night is conclusive proof of that.'

'I don't know why you're getting so upset,' Oliver interrupted, his voice getting louder. 'You got what you wanted didn't you?'

Cedric gaped at him for a moment. 'This was never just about the sex,' he said furiously. 'You've always meant so much more to me than that. I love you, you stupid idiot. Surely you can see that.' There was a moment of silence, and then Cedric realised what he had just said.

'You don't love me,' said Oliver. 'You can't. What we've got...isn't real love.'

'This isn't you talking. This is your father talking. I can't believe you're doing this. You're a coward Oliver. A coward.' He pulled from his robes the Golden Snitch that Oliver had given him, the Snitch that he carried everywhere. 'When you gave this to me, are you saying that wasn't real love?'

'I'm sorry,' Oliver said. 'We're done.' And with that, he walked away, heading back to the castle, leaving Cedric alone standing by the lake. Cedric lent back against a tree and sat down, his head in his hands. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He had told Oliver that he loved him, and had received nothing but coldness in return, and now just because of Oliver's ignorant father, their relationship was over. He began to cry.

* * *

Cedric really hadn't planned on going to the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match, he didn't want to have to sit and watch Oliver for any prolonged period of time. But James had eventually persuaded him that he couldn't miss the crucial match of the year that would decide who would win the Quidditch Cup, and so he found himself in the stands, waiting for the two teams to emerge from their changing rooms. Now that he came to think about it, this would be his last chance to watch Oliver play Quidditch before he left school, so perhaps it was a good thing that he was there.

The match was one of the most gripping that he had ever seen. He had done the calculations beforehand and worked out that Gryffindor needed to win by over two hundred points to win the Cup, and so every moment was tense and thrilling, each goal being potentially very significant. In the end, when Harry caught the Snitch and Gryffindor won the game, Cedric couldn't help cheering and clapping with everyone else. He knew how much this would mean to Oliver, but it hurt so much that he wasn't able to share it with him. He decided not to join everyone else spilling onto the pitch, instead he made his way back to the castle alone.

As he was leaving the Hufflepuff Common Room that evening to go to the library, he was surprised to see Oliver waiting for him. Cedric wondered how long he had been waiting there, not knowing how to get into the Hufflepuff dormitories. 'Hi,' Cedric said nervously, the last thing he needed right now was another argument.

'Hey,' Oliver said, and he looked just as uncomfortable as Cedric felt. 'I wanted to talk to you.' He gestured towards the Entrance Hall, and Oliver followed him out into the grounds. He always seemed to end up there for all the serious conversations in his life.

'Congratulations on today,' Cedric said, as they stopped by their usual spot near the lake. The anger that he had felt towards Oliver had disappeared long ago, and had been replaced by a sense of sadness and disappointment. But even so, this was Oliver's big moment and Cedric thought it was right to acknowledge it.

'Thank you,' Oliver replied. 'After six years of waiting, it's good to finally get my hands on the Quidditch Cup.' Cedric wondered whether he would ever experience that, but thought it was unlikely given the sorry state of the Hufflepuff team.

'Yeah, well you deserved it. You played brilliantly.' Oliver smiled, causing Cedric's heart to ache horribly. He had thought that he was just starting to get over Oliver, but it seemed that he still had a long way to go before he stopped feeling so miserable.

'Listen, I wanted to see you before the end of the term. To say goodbye.' Cedric didn't know how to respond to this without bursting into tears again. If he was being honest, before today, he hadn't given much thought to the fact that Oliver would be leaving Hogwarts very soon, it had always seemed so far away but now it was almost upon them. 'I got into Puddlemere United,' Oliver continued. 'I got a letter today saying they've accepted me.'

Oliver had told him about his application to join the professional Quidditch team a few months ago, but Cedric had completely forgotten after everything that had happened. 'Wow,' he said. 'Congratulations. I knew you'd make it.' He desperately wanted to hug Oliver, to tell him how proud he was of him, but was just about able to restrain himself.

'I guess you were right, right about a lot of things,' said Oliver. He turned and looked out across the lake. 'Seven years. Where does the time go?'

Cedric moved over and stood next to him. 'That way,' he said, pointing at the sky. 'All we've got is the present.'

'I know,' Oliver said quietly, and then turned to look Cedric in his eyes. 'I'm sorry Cedric, I'm not ready to be open about who I am. I know that makes me a coward, you were right when you said that, but I'm not ready.'

Cedric thought about this for a moment. He could respond angrily, tell Oliver that he needed to face his own problems or they would never go away. But the truth was that he was too tired to argue, and he had known for a while that the situation was hopeless, and so he just nodded and said, 'I understand. You need to do things in your own time.'

Oliver smiled. 'I'd better go, I just wanted to say goodbye.' Cedric nodded, once again trying to hold back tears. 'We had fun yeah?' Cedric looked up and saw that there were tears sparkling in Oliver's eyes, and he too was doing his best to stop them.

'Yeah, we did,' he said simply. 'Goodbye Oliver.' He enfolded the older boy in his arms and they stood and hugged. It seemed far too soon when they broke apart. Oliver reached up, and wiped away the tear that had begun to roll down Cedric's cheek, before turning around and beginning to walk back the castle. 'We did have fun,' Cedric murmured.

* * *

'And there you are,' Cedric said after he had finished his story. 'And I didn't hear from Oliver after that until I got this letter this morning.'

'I see,' said Harry, who was still getting his head round all the details. 'Poor Oliver, sounds like he had a terrible time.' Cedric nodded. Harry hadn't known how to feel when he had first heard about Cedric's history with Oliver, but now he knew the whole story, it only served to make him understand Cedric a lot better, and that was a good thing.

'So now you know the story,' Cedric said, looking at him nervously. 'I hope you're not still angry about me keeping it from you until now.'

'Of course not,' Harry replied quickly. 'I know why you did it. It's only helped convince me of what a genuinely wonderful person you are.'

Cedric smiled. 'I guess what the whole thing taught me is that what makes us human is that we care, and because we care, we never stop trying. I didn't stop trying with Oliver, because I knew what he really wanted, but he just couldn't see it himself. But I think it's worked out in the end, Oliver can go away and decide what to do in his own time, and now I get to be with you.' He winked at Harry, who couldn't help but grin.

'Yep,' Harry said. 'You're all mine.'

Cedric reached into his robes again. 'And just in case you're not convinced of that. I want you to have this.' He took out the Golden Snitch that Oliver had given to him, and handed it to Harry, who took it and examined it closely. It really was as beautifully crafted as Cedric had said, down to the last detail.

'I can't take this,' Harry said, although he was touched by the gesture. 'It's yours, you should keep it.' He tried to hand it back but Cedric waved his hand, refusing to take it.

'It's yours now Harry. I insist.' Harry realised there was no point arguing and just smiled, putting it inside his own robes to keep it safe. 'My Seeker,' Cedric said simply.

'Thank you,' said Harry, leaning forward and kissing his boyfriend. They lost a minute or so to some frantic kissing. Eventually they broke apart. 'Thanks for telling me that story.'

'No problem,' Cedric said, putting his arm around Harry's shoulder. 'You had a right to know. Now, do you have any secret exes that I need to be made aware of.'

'If only,' Harry replied. 'My love life was pretty much nonexistent before you came along. I think it's been worth the wait.'

'You really mean that?' Cedric asked.

'Absolutely,' Harry said. And he did.


	13. Chapter 11 - Moments of Transition

**Author Notes** – Another chapter I like a lot, so I hope you do too. I thought I'd end it on a bit of a cliff-hanger for the next chapter. Thanks for reading, and please review if you want to.

**Additional Note** - Apologies about having deleted this chapter but something was wrong with the file, all sorted now so I've reuploaded it.

**Rating** – PG

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

_Moments of Transition_

Harry went to breakfast the next morning feeling extremely tired, having only had a couple of hours sleep after his long conversation with Cedric. Despite this, he also felt happier than he had in a long time. Any doubts that he might have had about his relationship were gone, it was now abundantly clear that Cedric wanted to be with him more than anything else. He had placed the model Snitch on his bedside table so he could see it when he was lying on his bed, and before he had gone to sleep, he had spent several minutes just staring at it. It was hard to put into words how important the gesture of Cedric giving it to him had been, and along with the photograph of him and Cedric from the future, it was now among his most prized possessions. All of this had also had the effect of driving the man in the white hat from his head, because somehow it just didn't seem important anymore. He spent his entire life chasing after strange and mysterious events, it felt nice to be concentrating on something so wonderfully normal as a new relationship.

'What are you looking so cheerful about?' asked Hermione, as she buttered several slices of toast for them all. 'Something to do with Cedric?' she added in a hushed tone, looking around to check that no one could hear them.

Harry did the same, but Neville was too busy refastening his robes to listen in on their conversation, before saying, 'Yeah, we had a long chat last night.'

'I guessed that, you weren't back at midnight when I went to bed,' Ron said, looking slightly miffed about it. 'What time did you actually get back?'

'Must have been about half past four,' replied Harry, and the other two raised their eyebrows. 'As I said, it was a long chat. Anyway, the upshot of it all is that me and Cedric are now completely one hundred per cent committed to this relationship. I think we've really got something special you know.' He couldn't help but grinning.

'That's wonderful Harry,' said Hermione, passing him a slice of toast. 'I've known that all along of course. Honestly, the way you two look at each other, it's obvious.'

'Not that obvious I hope,' Harry cut in. 'At least I don't get all misty-eyed and start dribbling.' Ron snorted. 'What? I don't actually, do I?'

'Of course not,' said Hermione quickly, hitting Ron on the arm. 'Ron's just being silly. I'm sure it's fine, we only notice because we both already know that you two are together.' Harry hoped that she was right, he didn't want to be too obvious about how he felt about Cedric, he was trying to keep their relationship a secret, at least for the time being.

'Anyway,' he said, trying to steer the conversation somewhere else. 'Anything good in the paper this morning?' He reached over and picked up the copy of the Daily Prophet that had been dropped next to Ron, and quickly scanned it. 'Looks perfectly normal.'

'That reminds me Harry,' said Hermione, as he put the paper back down again. 'I did a little bit of digging yesterday about that mysterious stranger of yours.' Harry looked at her and raised his eyebrows, inviting her to continue. 'And there's nothing I can find that matches the physical description you gave. Without knowing a little bit more about what he actually looks like, I'm not entirely sure what we can do.'

'We could ask Dumbledore I suppose,' Ron said, looking up at the top table where the Headmaster was once again absent. 'But then, he hasn't been around for ages so don't suppose that'll do any good.' He turned back to Harry. 'Do you think he might have anything to do with these lessons you're having with Moody?'

'I don't know,' said Harry. 'It seems too much of a coincidence for all this not to be connected in some way. The question is how.' He sighed and took another bite of toast. 'To be honest with you, I'm tired of all this stuff anyway.'

'That's not like you Harry,' Hermione said, looking surprised. 'You love a good mystery.'

'Perhaps I'm growing out of it,' Harry mused. 'Look, it's not that I don't want to know who this man and what's going on, but there's just so much else going on in my life. I'm just about getting a handle on the stuff that I've actually got control over, I can't spend all my time worrying about everything I can't control.'

'He'll have changed his mind by tomorrow,' Ron said, smirking. 'Anyway, we've got Divination later,' and he adopted a tone similar to Professor Trelawney's. 'Perhaps the answers you seek will be revealed at the bottom of a treacle tart.'

Harry snorted into his toast. 'Honestly, the day I get any answers from a Divination lesson is the day that Snape starts handing out candy in lessons.'

He would come to think that perhaps he had spoken a little too soon. For, just as they had settled down for their usual Potions lesson after lunch, Snape bounded into the room and greeted the class with a wide smile. 'Good afternoon children,' he said, and Harry stared at him, wondering whether this might be a dream. 'I've got your homework here,' Snape continued, waving a stack of papers. 'And I must say I was terribly impressed with the overall standard.' He waved his hand and the work returned to its owners. Harry caught his and was amazed to see that Snape had written "Excellent work" in big, scrawling letters at the top of the front sheet.

'What's got into him?' Ron said, looking at Snape with an amused expression. Malfoy was looking quite distressed at this turn of events, and was obviously perturbed by this change of character in the usually vindictive teacher.

'Quiet please,' Snape said, though his smile never faltered. 'Now then, I thought that we all needed a break from the poisons we've been studying recently so I thought today we might have a little bit of fun.' Everyone in the room was now looking dumbfounded at Snape, the concept of having fun in a Potions lesson was just too alien to imagine. 'So,' Snape continued, seemingly unaware of the looks that he was now receiving from every corner of the room. 'We're going to try and brew some laughing potions. Guaranteed to have rolling around on the floor. Terribly good exercise as well.' He waved his wand again and the instructions appeared on the blackboard. 'Good luck, off you go.'

It was easily the most bizarre, and by extension, fun Potions lesson they had ever had. As they all worked on chopping and measuring the various ingredients, Snape wandered the classroom, watching them all in turn, offering useful advice on how to improve, all the time with the same fixed smile on his face.

'He's lost his marbles,' said Ron, but couldn't help grinning as he added powdered wormwood to his cauldron, and it began to spark. Harry was completely unsure of how to react to this turn of events, his natural aversion and dislike of Snape were suddenly coming into conflict with the fact that Snape's good mood was infectious, and he couldn't help smiling with everyone else as he constructed his potion.

'Very good so far Potter,' Snape said as he paused at Harry's cauldron and gave it a quick sniff. 'Though don't forget to take it off the fire the moment you add the lacewing flies.'

'Er...yes sir, thank you,' replied Harry, unsure of what to say in response to the completely new concept of Snape offering him friendly advice. 'This is just too weird,' he added to Ron in a whisper, as Snape moved away.

At the end of the lesson, Snape went round the classroom once more, looking at everyone's completed potions. 'I must say this is all very impressive,' he said as he passed the final cauldron and returned to the front of the class. 'So, who wants to test one out?' There was a general sound of approval from the class. 'Let's see, who had a particularly good one.' He paused briefly. 'Longbottom, how about you?'

'Me, sir?' Neville asked, looking around the others with a terrified expression. Clearly he thought that this was some sort of trap that Snape had laid for him.

'Yes, that's right, don't be shy now,' replied Snape, smiling widely at him. 'I thought yours was a particularly fine potion so let's try it out.' Neville nervously brought forward a sample of his work. 'Go on then.' Neville opened the stopper of his test tube and downed the contents. There was a moment's silence, but then he was on the ground rolling around, laughing uncontrollably. The rest of the class joined in, even Snape was chuckling to himself. He bent down and administered the antidote, meaning a moment later Neville could get to his feet again. Snape patted him on the shoulder. 'Excellent work Longbottom, ten points to Gryffindor.' At that moment the bell rang. 'Right, off you go everyone, no homework.'

The rest of the class left the Dungeons chatting cheerfully, all in a very good mood, but Harry couldn't help feeling suspicious. Yes, that was the most fun he had ever had in Potions, and this new Snape was certainly preferable to the old, but it was such a change of character that Harry couldn't help but think that it wasn't at all genuine. Another mystery to add to the list, he thought to himself. At least this one had some pleasant effects.

Harry and Ron said goodbye to Hermione, who had an Arithmancy lesson, and headed for the Divination classroom, situated in the North Tower. Harry suddenly remembered that the stranger he had followed had paid a visit to this classroom and made a mental note to ask Professor Trelawney about it when he had the opportunity. They sat at their usual table, hoping that perhaps Snape wasn't the only teacher to have undergone a personality transplant.

Unfortunately, their Divination lesson was very much like every other. They were still plotting the movements of the planets, which was getting extremely tiresome by now, particularly when Professor Trelawney solemnly informed them that Saturn was looking very unfriendly at the moment, which combined with its conjunction with Mercury meant that Harry was in terrible danger of a sudden and unexpected demise. He sighed and looked at his watch, having long ago given up any hopes of actually learning anything in Divination. The double period dragged by and it was a great relief when the bell finally went to signal the end of the day.

'I'll catch you up in a moment,' Harry said to Ron, who was making his way towards the trapdoor. 'I just need to have a quick word with Trelawney.' Ron shrugged and left the room with Seamus and Dean, and Harry heard them quickly strike up a conversation about Quidditch. He sighed again, not wanting to spend any longer in the stuffy classroom than was necessary, and approached Professor Trelawney's desk, where she was sitting examining her hands through her giant spectacles.

'Excuse me Professor,' he said quietly, not wanting to disturb the quiet that had descended now that all the other students had left. She did not respond, and Harry thought she must have not heard him. He cleared his throat obviously and said, more loudly this time, 'Professor?'

She jumped and looked up at him, her magnified eyes wide. 'I'm so sorry my dear, I was far away for a moment. What is it I can do for you?'

Harry paused, thinking about how to phrase his question properly, without making it too obvious that he had out of bed after hours. But, then again, Professor Trelawney never seemed to care about the rules that the other teachers followed and, considering who he was dealing with, perhaps subtlety wasn't really a good idea. 'On Saturday night, I noticed that someone came into this classroom, a man that I didn't recognise as one of the teachers or staff, and I was wondering if you'd seen him?'

She looked at him with a confused expression, and Harry had a feeling that this might be a lost cause. 'A stranger...in my classroom...on Saturday night? I think not my dear, I was here the whole time, and I was alone all night.'

'Are you sure?' Harry asked. 'I definitely saw him come in here.'

'What did he look like, this man?' she asked, peering at him still closer.

'Well,' said Harry, trying to picture him. 'I didn't see his face particularly clearly, but I think he had short brown hair, and was wearing a white linen suit and a white hat. As I said, I've never seen him here before.'

Professor Trelawney looked away for a moment, and Harry thought for a second that she was going to respond with something positive. 'I think you must be confused my dear,' she said finally, patting him lightly on the shoulder. 'Perhaps this was a dream, the results of a troubled mind. It would be understandable...'

'No,' cut in Harry quickly. 'I'm sorry Professor, I must have got confused.' He had decided that the last thing he needed right now was Professor Trelawney fretting over his mental state, she had done enough of that over the last couple of years. 'Sorry to have bothered you.' And before she could say anything, he left the classroom. Yet again, something didn't make sense. He had seen the stranger go through the trapdoor, and had heard voices coming from the classroom. So, either Professor Trelawney was mistaken that she had been present that night, or she had somehow forgotten any conversations she might have had with the stranger. 'Typical,' he muttered to himself darkly. 'Just when I need some straight answers, I have to rely on a source as unreliable as her.'

'God, it's been a long day,' he said, as he sat down in the Great Hall for dinner with Ron and Hermione. 'So,' he continued, as he started to cut up his pork chops. 'Anyone have any idea what's going on with Snape?' The Potions teacher's strange behaviour was the topic of conversation up and down the Hall, it seemed that this change of character wasn't just confined to one lesson, but appeared to be more long-lasting.

'No idea,' said Ron with a grin. 'But I hope that it continues for as long as possible. I doubt we'll be that lucky though.'

'Do you think someone slipped something into his breakfast?' Hermione mused as she looked up at the top table. Snape was sitting there, chatting merrily to Professor Flitwick. They were surprised to see that he had swapped his usual black robes for a set of bright green ones, which just didn't suit him at all.

'If that's true, we should send that person flowers,' said Harry, and the other two laughed. He continued to watch the teachers' table, and after a few seconds, he caught Professor Moody's eyes, who raised his eyebrows at him. Harry remembered that he had another training session that evening, and decided that he would ask Moody about Snape's behaviour, perhaps he would be able to shed a little light on the situation.

'Well, hello there,' said a voice from behind Harry. He looked round and saw Cedric smiling down at him. His boyfriend reached down, stole a potato from Harry's plate and popped it in his mouth.

'Hey now,' said Harry, giving Cedric an admonishing glare at this risky public display of affection. Cedric grinned at him guiltily, and Harry couldn't help smiling back.

'I heard all about Snape,' Cedric said. 'Is it true what they're saying about him?'

'Just look at him,' said Harry, nodding his head towards the Potions teacher. Cedric looked over and snorted with laughter at the green robes that Snape was now wearing. 'Does that answer your question?'

'Er, yeah,' Cedric said. 'Anyway, I'd better go, I can see James waving at me.' Harry looked over at the Hufflepuff table and could see Cedric's best friend making a rather impolite hand gesture over at Cedric. 'That's just his way,' Cedric added quickly, when he saw where Harry was looking. 'Before I go, you know it's the trip to Hogsmeade this weekend?'

'Of course,' replied Harry, though secretly he had forgotten all about it. 'What about it?'

'I was just wondering if you wanted to go together,' Cedric said. 'You know,' he added, lowering his voice. 'Like a date.'

Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione, who were looking bemused. 'Er...yeah all right. That would be cool.' Cedric smiled at him, and headed off for the Hufflepuff table. 'You don't mind, do you?' Harry asked the other two quickly, knowing that they would otherwise have gone together. They didn't say anything, of course, but Harry could tell that his two best friends missed his company, he spent as much of his free time as possible with Cedric, and he couldn't help feeling slightly guilty that he might be neglecting Ron and Hermione.

'Not at all,' said Hermione, waving her hand impatiently. 'You two need to spend some time together outside of the castle anyway. Ron and I will find plenty to occupy ourselves with.' Harry glanced at Ron, who looked terrified by the very prospect, and Harry was once again disheartened by his friends' unwillingness to admit their feelings for each other.

'Yeah,' Ron agreed quickly when he realised that both Harry and Hermione were looking at him. 'Though shouldn't you two be a little bit more careful? If it's just the two of you then people might start to...you know, suspect something.'

'I suppose so,' said Harry, realising that he hadn't thought about that. 'I suppose we might go to the more out-of-the-way areas where there are less students. And if anyone asks, we'll just say it's something to do with Quidditch.'

'OK,' Ron said. 'Just as long as you're sure. Anyway, we could always meet you two in the Three Broomsticks for a drink later on?'

'Good idea,' said Harry, returning to his dinner, feeling glad that he had something to look forward to that weekend.

* * *

Saturday rolled round quickly as usual, and Harry was very glad that it had. It had been a long and difficult week, his teachers had upped the amount of work they were doing, Moody was now demanding that he study and master more complicated jinxes and counter-jinxes, and there was no sign of any let up in Quidditch training. All this meant that Harry was greatly looking forward to a weekend off; he had been so busy that he had not seen Cedric since they had agreed to go on their date, and he found that he missed him a great deal. The thought of spending the day with his boyfriend in Hogsmeade was what had kept him going through all the tiredness and stress.

They had agreed to meet in the Entrance Hall a little after eleven, so as to miss the rush when most students made their way down to the village. When Harry reached the Great Hall, he found Cedric all dressed up in his smart trousers and jumper, with a thick yellow scarf around his neck. Harry wasn't sure this was at all possible, but he looked even more attractive than usual, and Harry suddenly felt slightly self-conscious in his baggy jeans and slightly oversized jumper, thinking that perhaps he should have made more of an effort.

When Cedric saw him, his face split into a wide smile. 'Hey there, I've missed you.' He cast a quick glance around to check that no one was watching, and kissed Harry on the lips.

'Hey,' Harry said, feeling all the tension of the last week lifting off his shoulders almost instantly. 'I've missed you too. Sorry, I've been so busy this week, I'm going to make it up to you.' He gestured to the doors and they made their way out of the castle.

'Don't worry about it,' said Cedric, as they began the walk to the village. 'Believe me, I've had a hectic week as well. I'm just glad we've got the chance to spend some together now.'

'So where were you thinking of going?' asked Harry. 'It's just that Ron said that we might not want to go somewhere too busy. If it's just the two of us we don't want people to...'

'I get it,' Cedric said quickly. 'It's fine, there's a few shops out of the way that I want to look in. Got to start looking for Christmas presents.'

'What, already?' exclaimed Harry, looking dumbstruck. It wasn't even the end of October, he wouldn't start thinking about Christmas for at least another five or six weeks. 'Blimey, you worry me sometimes with how organised you are.'

'You can never be too organised Harry,' Cedric said, taking Harry's arm in his own. The path down to the village seemed to be deserted and so Harry didn't resist. 'Besides my parents are a nightmare to buy presents for, so I always have to start looking early.'

'Fair enough. Who knows, being with you, I might even adopt some of your good habits. I thought we could meet Ron and Hermione in the Three Broomsticks for a drink later if that's all right with you.'

'Absolutely,' replied Cedric, and Harry was glad to hear that this wouldn't be a problem, he was still feeling a little guilty about not spending the day with them.

They passed the rest of the walk in a comfortable silence. Occasionally they would see somewhere coming and let go of each other for a few moments until they had passed out of sight again. Harry felt wonderfully comfortable with Cedric, which was, he supposed, one of the reasons why he liked him so much. When they reached Hogsmeade, Cedric directed them away from the main street and into a small clothes shop not far from the train station.

'I found a great sweater for my Dad in here last year,' Cedric explained. 'Have a look round, you never know what you might see.'

Harry browsed around the shop. Clothes shopping had always been very simple for him really. Before he came to Hogwarts, he never had any new clothes, just what no longer fit his cousin Dudley, and after that, he only needed to buy wizard robes and the occasional pairs of jeans and a shirt or two. There was a wide selection of things in the shop, and in the end, Harry decided to buy himself a new pair of trainers and a jumper. Paying for these at the counter, he found Cedric staring at a collection of suit jackets.

'I'm thinking maybe one of these for my Dad this year,' he said. 'But I'm not really sure which one. Grey would be good, but it's a bit...boring.'

'OK,' said Harry, hoping that Cedric wasn't actually relying on him having any taste in clothes. 'How about this one?' he added hopefully, picking up a navy blue one.

Cedric considered it for a moment and then smiled. 'Perfect,' he said. 'Clearly you have excellent taste for fifty year old men.' Harry made a huffing noise as Cedric took the jacket to the smiling witch at the counter, who was watching their interaction with amusement, and paid for it. 'Brilliant,' he said, as they left the shop. 'That's the most difficult present out of the way right away. Anywhere you want to go Harry?'

Harry thought for a moment, about what he might get his friends for Christmas. He saw a shop that sold Quidditch supplies and thought of Ron. 'In here,' he said, and they went inside. The shop contained everything any Quidditch fan could want, parts for broomsticks, robes of famous teams, and an assortment of other accessories. 'Here we are.' They had stopped in front of a set of Chudley Cannons Quidditch robes. 'Ron's always wanted these, I think I can just about stretch to get them for him.'

'You're a great friend Harry,' said Cedric, and Harry took them to the counter and got fifteen galleons out of his bag. 'Seriously though, my best friend got me a nose-biting teacup last Christmas, I think I'd prefer to have you as my best friend.'

At that moment, Harry looked round and saw Seamus and Dean entering the shop. He glanced at Cedric, who seemed to realise what he was thinking, and walked over to the other side of the shop, pretending to be engrossed with a silver compass that attached itself to your broomstick to help you navigate over long distances.

'Hey Harry,' said Seamus. 'What're you doing here?'

'Just buying a Christmas present for Ron,' Harry explained quickly, glancing over to where Cedric was still examining the compass. 'So obviously he wasn't allowed to come with me,' he added, in case they asked him why he was here alone. 'Anyway, I'd better be going, they'll be waiting for me.'

He hurried from the shop and waited round the corner for Cedric to join him. A minute or so later, his boyfriend appeared and grinned, giving him a quick peck on the lips. 'Sorry about that,' said Harry, feeling genuinely apologetic. 'I hate having to pretend we're not together.'

'Hey it's fine,' Cedric said quickly, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder. 'We both agreed remember? You'd have done the same if it was one of my friends. Now come on, let's forget about it and get on with the day.'

Two hours later they made their way to the Three Broomsticks, weighed down by their bags of shopping. Harry had managed to find presents for Ron, Hermione, Hagrid and Mrs Weasley, and even a few things for himself. 'Honestly, I've never been this organised before,' he commented. 'You're clearly a good influence on me.'

'We knew that already,' Cedric said lightly. 'It's my winning personality that does it.'

'Is that so? I thought it was your natural modesty and self-deprecation.' Harry had encountered one problem that day, however. He had absolutely no idea what to get Cedric for Christmas. He didn't have the subtlety to ask his boyfriend about what the rules were going to be for Christmas presents, but it was fairly obvious, given Cedric's generosity, that Harry was going to be getting something, and so he desperately needed to think of something he could buy for Cedric. He decided that Hermione would be the best person to ask for this particular problem, which would probably mean a return to visit to Hogsmeade.

When they went inside the Three Broomsticks, they saw Ron and Hermione at a table in the corner, having what looked like a whispered conversation. Cedric went over to the bar to get their drinks while Harry walked over to where his two best friends were talking. He cleared his throat loudly and they both jumped.

'Harry,' said Hermione. 'I'm going to have to buy you heavier shoes so you can't keep sneaking up on me.' She smiled, and Harry sat down next to them. 'Had a good day?'

'Yeah, really good,' replied Harry, and he noticed that Hermione was peering at one of the shopping bags that he'd brought with him. 'You can't look in there,' he said, moving it under the table. 'It's got your Christmas present in it.'

'What?' said Ron, looking shocked and annoyed. 'Since when did you become so bloody organised?'

'Since he started going out with Cedric of course,' said Hermione before Harry could say anything. Cedric now joined them, holding two butterbeers, one of which he passed to Harry, who took it with a grateful smile, and they sat drinking silently for a few moments.

'So, what have you two done today?' Harry asked, looking at Ron and Hermione, who didn't seem to have any shopping with them.

Before Hermione could answer, there was a loud crack as Cedric dropped the glass he was holding, which smashed on the table. Harry looked at him, wondering what was wrong, and saw that Cedric was staring at the entrance of the pub. Harry followed his eyes and his stomach turned over. The pub door had just opened, and a man had walked inside. A man with short brown hair who was wearing a white linen suit and a white hat. 'It's him again,' Cedric whispered, and Harry stared at him.

'What do you mean, have you seen that man before?' he asked Cedric, looking at him with a shocked expression. 'That's who I was telling you about,' he added quickly to Ron and Hermione, who were looking at them both with a confused expression.

'Yeah, I saw him walking round the castle a few weeks back,' Cedric explained, and Harry raised his eyebrows. 'I was going to tell you about it but I completely forgot with everything that's been going on. Why, have you seen him as well?'

Harry nodded. 'Last Saturday night, I saw him and followed him. I only did that because...' He suddenly stopped himself, for he had been about to reveal the warning he had been given, but then remembered that that would mean explaining about future Cedric and breaking his promise. The others were looking at him expectantly. 'I just thought he looked a bit odd,' he finished weakly.

'Well you got that right,' Ron remarked, taking in the stranger's unusual clothes. The man had stopped at the bar, whispered a few words to Madam Rosmerta, who had poured him a measure of what looked like a sort of whisky. The stranger tapped the bar twice, before raising the glass to his lips, and drinking the amber liquid. He placed the glass back down again, and headed for the door. Before he left the pub, Harry could have sworn that he stopped and looked over at the corner where the four of them were sitting, but a moment later he was gone, the door swinging shut behind him.

'What do we do?' asked Cedric hurriedly.

'Follow him,' Harry said quickly, and they both got to their feet. 'You two wait here.' And before Ron and Hermione could protest, Harry and Cedric were sprinting to the door, in pursuit of the man in the white hat.


	14. Chapter 12 - A Fallen Rook

**Author Notes** – Here ends the second part of the story, and I hope you've enjoyed it all so far. In terms of word count, we're almost half way through now I reckon (page count is about 200), so still plenty more to come. Please read and, as always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

**Rating** – PG

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

_A Fallen Rook_

Harry and Cedric paused briefly after they bolted through the door of the Three Broomsticks to see which way the stranger had gone. 'There!' Harry said loudly, pointing right. Cedric looked and saw him, striding purposefully towards the main village square, where most of the shops were located. They pursued him once more, determined to discover what exactly he was doing in Hogsmeade that weekend.

They received some strange looks as they ran, but Cedric's mind was working too fast on other things for him to care. The revelation that the man he had followed only a few weeks ago had been making repeat appearances made it clear that he was involved in something going on at Hogwarts, and the fact that it had been him and Harry who, as far as he knew, were the only two people in the school to have witnessed him, seemed like a very implausible coincidence. Cedric knew only too well that Harry was constantly surrounded by danger and mystery, and this time, Cedric was determined to be there when they got to the bottom of it. He cared too much about Harry to let him face yet another threat all on his own.

They were gaining on the stranger quickly, and so decided to hang back a little to avoid him noticing them, and to watch which way he went. The man in white paused, looking around, as though examining each of the shop names, before proceeding again, turning a corner into another street, and disappearing from sight. Harry and Cedric crept forward quietly, and Cedric poked his head round the corner. He could see that the man had paused outside a large shop that, as far as Cedric could tell, sold all sorts of bric-a-brac. From where he was, he could make out sets of Gobstones and other games in the shop window, as well as a large collection of robes and other clothes. The stranger seemed to be examining the items in the window closely, so Cedric reached into his robes and pulled out his glasses, in order to see the man's expression more clearly. Just as he put them on, the man seemed to make his decision, and strode into the shop.

'What do we do?' Cedric whispered, as Harry poked his head round the corner as well. The street they were watching now seemed to be deserted.

'We need to know what he's up to,' replied Harry. 'You'd better go into the shop.' Cedric raised his eyebrows at Harry. 'It's got to be you,' Harry continued quickly. 'There's always a chance he might recognise me if I do it.'

'I get it,' Cedric said, nodding. He wasn't relishing the prospect of a possible confrontation with the stranger, but he could see the logic of Harry's argument. 'Wait for me?'

'Of course I will, just be careful,' said Harry. Cedric gave him a quick kiss on the lips, and then walked forward, heading for the shop that the stranger had entered. He paused on the threshold, looked back at Harry's head still poking round the corner from the other street, and gave him an encouraging smile, before opening the door and stepping inside.

The inside of the shop looked very much like Cedric had expected. A wide range of items were arranged on the shelves, and from the look of it, a great deal of it was second hand. Cedric quickly spotted the stranger they had followed examining a set of games in the corner, and pretended, for the second time that day, to be interested in something that he had absolutely no interest in whatsoever, this time it was a very warn and battered Sneakoscope. He was concerned to see that it was spinning extremely quickly, and noted that it was just him and the man in the white in the shop at that moment.

The stranger passed by him, and for a moment they made eye contact. Cedric's natural reaction was to smile, so he did, and the stranger returned the gesture briefly, before moving away once more. Cedric watched him as he made his way to the counter, and waited. A moment later, a middle-aged women, who must have been the shopkeeper, appeared from the room behind the counter, and surveyed the man with an expression that Cedric couldn't interpret at all.

'Oh, it's you again,' she said, trying and failing to sound polite. 'What can I do for you this time?' Clearly this was not the first time the stranger had been in this shop, and from the sound of it, his last visit had been quite recently.

'I need a chess board,' the stranger said simply. There was a moment's pause before the woman shrugged and made her way back to the room behind the counter. Cedric could hear the sound of her moving things around. The man looked over at him, and Cedric once again pretended to be examining an item on the shelf.

The woman returned a second later, holding a large wooden box that obviously contained the chess set. 'That's the third one you've bought in a matter of weeks,' she said gruffly, and the stranger smiled mysteriously. 'What are you doing with them all?'

'I like to think several moves ahead,' he said cryptically, but did not elaborate any further. 'And while I'm here, do you have any Tarot cards?'

The woman raised her eyebrows at him, but didn't comment further, before reaching up to one of the shelves on the wall behind the counter, and reached down a pack of cards. She handed them to the stranger and said, 'That'll be twelve sickles in all then.'

'Dear me,' said the stranger, as he rummaged around in his trouser pockets, and extracted a large handful of coins. 'I can never get the hang of this currency.' He counted out twelve silver coins, and handed them to the woman, who placed them in the till. 'Thank you very much,' the man said with another smile, and turned to leave the shop. He paused as he reached the door, and looked back over at Cedric, but didn't say anything, and a moment later, he had gone back outside.

'Can I help you?' the woman said sternly, and Cedric realised that she was looking at him, she must have finally realised that he was there.

'Er, no,' said Cedric quickly, and started walking towards the door. 'I'm afraid you don't have the thing I'm looking for.' With that, he left the shop. Once outside, he looked round but there was no sign of the man in white, but he could see that Harry was still peering around the corner, a look of relief passed across his face when he spotted Cedric looking at him.

Cedric started to walk back towards him when he noticed something on the ground that hadn't been there when he had entered the shop. It must have dropped by that man, he thought, as he bent down to pick it up. It was a chess piece, one of the black rooks in fact. Cedric examined it closely, it looked perfectly ordinary to him, before pocketing it, and walking over to where Harry was waiting for him.

'There you are,' said Harry, breathing a sigh of relief. 'He just disappeared,' he continued, answering Cedric's forthcoming question. 'When he left the shop, he took a few steps down the street and then he must have apparated. When you didn't come out for a moment there, I was worried.' They kissed, and Cedric could feel Harry's sense of relief radiating off him. 'What happened in there?' asked Harry when they broke apart.

Before Cedric could answer, there was a shout and they both looked around to see Ron and Hermione hurrying towards them, looking concerned. 'There you two are,' said Hermione, breathing heavily. They had clearly been running for some time. 'We've been looking everywhere for you.'

'It's all right,' said Harry quickly. 'We're both fine. Sorry about running off like that, but we didn't have any time to lose.'

'Yeah well, almost as soon as you left, we decided to go after you,' Ron explained. 'But we didn't know which way you'd gone, we've been rushing round Hogsmeade for ages trying to find you. What happened? Did you find out where he was going in the end?'

They were both looking at Harry and Cedric expectantly. 'Well,' Harry said. 'We followed him here and saw him go into that shop over there.' He pointed to the second-hand shop. 'So, Cedric followed him inside and I watched from here.' He looked at Cedric. 'But he hasn't had a chance to tell me what happened when he went inside.'

All three of them were now looking at him, and Cedric felt a little uncomfortable. He glanced around nervously, and could see a pair of witches making their way down the street towards them. 'Not here,' he said in the end. 'We might be overheard. Come on, let's get back to the castle, I'll tell you on the way.'

* * *

As they made their way along the long, winding road that led from the village to the castle, Cedric told them what had happened in the shop, what the stranger had bought and the chess piece that he had found on the ground on his way out. 'Can I see it?' Hermione asked, and so Cedric produced the black castle and handed it to her. She examined it closely and tapped it with her wand. 'No,' she continued, handing it back again. 'It doesn't seem to have any spells attached to it, it's just an ordinary chess piece.'

'It's weird though isn't it?' said Harry. 'To buy a new chess set and then just carelessly drop one of the pieces in the street.'

'I don't think it was careless,' Cedric said. 'I think he left it there deliberately for me to find. Listen, when we made eye contact in the shop, for a moment it felt as though he recognised me. So perhaps he left it on purpose, as a clue maybe.'

'Some clue,' said Ron sarcastically. 'But how did he know who you were, and why would he want to leave you a clue of all people?'

'I don't know,' replied Cedric. 'None of this makes any sense. We still don't know who this guy is. We're no closer to any answers that we were earlier.' He paused, thinking about everything that had happened. 'I just can't help feeling we're being manipulated somehow.'

'Welcome to my world,' said Harry in a dark tone. 'What did you say was the other thing that he bought again?'

'A set of Tarot cards,' Cedric replied, and he noticed a thoughtful expression appear on Hermione's face as he answered. 'What are you thinking Hermione?'

'It's just that when Harry followed this man at the weekend, he said that he went to Professor Trelawney's classroom, and there are sets of Tarot cards in there as well.' Cedric thought this over, surely he could have just used one of those packs then. 'I don't understand the significance of Tarot cards though,' Hermione continued. 'In the Muggle world, they're something of a joke. And if it's a branch of Divination, I'm obviously cynical about it.'

They had reached the Entrance Hall. It was deserted, as most of the students wouldn't be returning from Hogsmeade for another hour or so. Harry turned to face the other three and said, 'What do you think we should do from here?'

Cedric knew at once what he wanted to do. He should have done it ages ago, and now was well past time. 'We need to talk to Dumbledore,' he said firmly. 'We should have done it as soon as this whole thing started. He's the only one who knows everything that goes on around here.'

'Would he tell us though?' asked Ron. 'You know what he's like, it's not inconceivable that he might try and hide something from us.'

'That's a risk we'll have to take,' replied Cedric. 'Come on.'

They started to walk towards the Grand Staircase when Harry suddenly stopped. The others did so as well and looked at him. 'I've just had a thought,' said Harry. 'How do we know whether Dumbledore's even here? He hasn't been for the last few days...'

'Oh look,' said Hermione, pointing to the Grand Staircase, where someone was walking down it, clearly heading for the Ground Floor. 'Here comes Professor Snape.' Cedric could see the Potions Master more clearly now, he was dressed in navy blue robes now, and still had that fixed smile on his face that he had been wearing for the past week.

'Do we have to?' Ron groaned. 'Nice Snape is almost as unbearable as the nasty version.'

'Oh, it's worth a try,' said Cedric, and he strode forward to meet Snape, who paused and looked at him, still with the same smile on his face. 'Professor, I'm sorry to bother you...'

'Not at all young Diggory,' Snape interrupted with a careless wave of his hand. 'I've always got time for excellent students such as yourself.'

'Erm, thank you sir,' replied Cedric, shooting Ron a warning look who was standing there looking as though he might be sick at any moment. 'I was wondering sir, if you might be able to tell us whether Professor Dumbledore is available this evening.'

'I can indeed,' Snape said. 'He returned from his travels only this afternoon. He is naturally tired from his journey but I'm sure he'd be happy to spare you a moment of his time. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to his office.'

Cedric nodded at the other three, and they followed Snape up the staircase towards the Second Floor. Cedric couldn't help noticing that Snape was whistling softly to himself as they walked. His bizarre change of personality had shown no sign of abating over the last few days. He was, if anything, in an even better mood than he had been at the start of the week. As they walked along the Second Floor Corridor, Snape looked at Harry and said, 'I've been marking your homework this afternoon Potter, another excellent piece of work. Take a well deserved five points for Gryffindor.'

They reached the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office. Snape coughed in an embarrassed manner before saying clearly, 'Cockroach Cluster.' The gargoyle leapt aside, and Snape gestured for the four of them to start climbing the steps that led to the Headmaster's office. 'I'll be off now,' Snape said as they started to climb. 'See you all later.' And with that, he strode away, still whistling merrily to himself.

'He needs to be stopped,' said Ron as they climbed the staircase. After that, they were silent until they reached the large wooden door to Dumbledore's office. Harry knocked using the brass knocker and waited. A moment later, the door swung open and the four of them stepped inside, to find Dumbledore sitting at his desk, observing them closely through his spectacles. The office looked very much like Harry remembered, the whirring and spinning instruments were still in their place, and Fawkes was sitting on his perch, looking down at them.

'Good evening,' said Dumbledore warmly, with a smile. 'How nice of you to drop in. And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?'

They all looked at each nervously until Cedric decided to take the lead. 'We need to talk to you about something sir,' he said.

'Well, why don't you sit down?' replied Dumbledore, and conjured four chairs from thin air with a wave of his wand, which revolved gently before settling themselves down on the other side of his desk. They all sat down. 'Please, continue.'

Harry and Cedric looked at each other. 'You do it,' said Cedric, feeling that Dumbledore would be more willing to believe the story if Harry told it. He noticed that the Headmaster was watching them curiously, but he didn't say anything.

Harry began to tell Dumbledore everything that had happened in the last few weeks, leaving out of course the part about his relationship with Cedric. The others chipped in occasionally to offer more details, or to correct something he had got wrong. 'And so,' said Harry, when they had finally finished relaying everything about their trip to Hogsmeade. 'We thought we'd come and see you sir, and ask you if you knew anything.'

The Headmaster stood up and began to pace his office. 'Describe this man to me again.'

'Well,' said Cedric, having been the one to have seen him up close. 'He looked about forty or so, he had shortish brown hair and blue-green eyes.' He paused for a moment. 'Or were they grey? Anyway, he was wearing a white linen suit and had a white hat on. But the first time I saw him, his clothes were slightly different. Plaid trousers, a brown jumper and jacket.'

'I see,' replied Dumbledore. 'Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I shall endeavour to look into it.'

Was this it, Cedric thought. After all that, Dumbledore had no answers, just to tell them that he would look into it. 'But sir, if this man's doing something in Hogwarts, shouldn't we...?'

'Your concern has been noted Cedric,' said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling a little. 'But let me be very clear, it is not possible that the castle would allow just anyone inside unless it had a very good reason. As for this particular stranger, I regret that I am unaware of him, but as I said, I shall look into it, and keep you informed of anything I may discover.'

It was clear that the conversation was over. Cedric sighed heavily as they all got to their feet. Dumbledore smiled at them. 'I suggest you all concentrate on other things for a while. No doubt you all have a lot of work to be doing, and it will soon be Christmas. Think about that for the moment and I will deal will everything else.' They all nodded, thanked Dumbledore, and started to make their way towards the door.

'Oh, one more thing,' said Dumbledore. 'That chess piece you found on the ground Cedric, may I keep it.' Cedric felt reluctant to hand it over, but he could hardly say no. He reached into his robes, produced it and handed it to Dumbledore, who took it with a smile. 'Thank you, you can go now.' They all left the office, Cedric feeling both disappointed in the lack of answers but also relieved that at least Dumbledore would now be looking into it. Perhaps he was right, he thought, perhaps they should be worrying about other things.

After the door had closed and Dumbledore was alone once more, he stood silently for a moment, watching one of the spinning objects. After a few seconds, he walked quietly over to Fawkes' perch and whispered something to the phoenix in a language that was most definitely not English. He stepped back again, and Fawkes disappeared in a burst of flame. Dumbledore smiled lightly to himself before returning to sit at his desk once more.

Ten minutes or so passed, and Dumbledore amused himself by unsticking and eating a few sherbet lemons, while reading some of the correspondence on his desk. Eventually, he pulled out his golden pocket watch and examined it closely. 'Just about now,' he muttered, and put it back into his robes. The fire in the corner of the room suddenly roared into life with emerald flames shooting forward accompanied by a large amount of smoke. A man appeared, revolving into view in the fireplace. He coughed and spluttered as he clambered out of the grate, wiping soot from his white linen suit, and looking disgruntled.

'Disgraceful way to travel,' he muttered, removing his hat and beating it ferociously in an attempt to remove some of the ash. 'Can't you think of a more pleasant method?' He moved forward and clapped Dumbledore on the shoulder, who smiled widely.

'I would say welcome back,' said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling once more. 'But it seems that you've been making use of the castle in my absence. It clearly likes you, to let you in without my permission.'

'I have a way with buildings,' the man replied, putting his hat back on his head. He started to pace the room, examining the objects. 'You've redecorated recently,' he said. 'I don't like it.'

'Thank you,' said Dumbledore. 'I always try and base my decor on what you won't like –

'Don't use my name,' said the stranger quickly, looking around the room sharply. 'It's not the time yet. Believe me, Smith will do just fine.'

'Well "Smith",' replied Dumbledore in an exaggerated fashion. 'You need to be more careful, I've just had the four of them up here telling me they've been following you.'

'I know,' said Smith, grinning widely. 'It's just a bit fun Albus honestly.' He sat down in the chair opposite Dumbledore's. 'There was never any serious danger they might find out what's actually going on.'

'Even so, I would prefer it if you kept your manipulation of my students to the minimum level possible. As a result, I think it would be best if you didn't come back here for a while, at least until suspicions are allayed. We can remain in contact about strategy, of course, but I'm afraid I must request that you do not visit the castle again until after Christmas.'

Smith looked annoyed, and for a moment, as though he might respond angrily, but in the end, he merely nodded and said, 'Your wish is my command Albus. I have other things to be concentrating on for a while anyway. There's a lull in the game.'

'Excellent,' replied Dumbledore. 'I don't want Harry and the others to suffer unnecessary stress until it's absolutely unavoidable.' Smith nodded once more, and Dumbledore seemed to be satisfied. 'Now then,' he continued, a smile returning to his face. 'Shall we discuss strategy once more?' He stood up, and moved over to a small table in one corner of the room, which was out of sight from the door to his office. 'You have the chess board?'

'Naturally,' Smith said, and from thin air, he produced the wooden box that he had purchased in Hogsmeade earlier that day. 'I've fixed it so that when I move a piece on my one, it will also move on this one, and vice versa.' He put the set down on the table, and opened the box. 'That way, we will be able to communicate strategy easily.'

'Ingenious,' said Dumbledore, looking closely at the chess pieces. 'Salazar Slytherin would have been proud,' Smith grimaced, and Dumbledore smiled once more. 'Sorry, I forgot you don't like to be reminded of your old House.'

'You know perfectly well that I'm only an honorary member,' snapped Smith, looking disgruntled once more. 'Salazar made me one after the last time we dealt with this whole sorry business, and that was before he went crazy.'

'My mistake,' said Dumbledore, clearly amused at how annoyed his visitor was. 'Now then, shall we get on?' He gestured at the board, and Smith began to move the pieces into place.

'It's his move next,' said Smith absent-mindedly as he placed all the white pieces in their correct locations. 'I think,' he added, looking at their formation, 'he's going to try an attack with his queen and a bishop.' He moved on to moving all the black pieces into place. 'But he's going to struggle to get through my Hadrian's Wall, even without one of the pawns.'

'All very cleverly thought out,' mused Dumbledore, watching Smith closely, as he moved the remaining pieces into their correct places. 'Although you'll find there's a piece missing.'

Smith looked over at him. 'Oh, they told you about that as well then.' Dumbledore nodded. 'Well, I assume you've got it then?'

'Naturally,' said Dumbledore, and he reached inside his robes and retrieved the black rook that he had taken from Cedric. 'Here you are.' He handed it to Smith, who took it with a look of relief. 'Put Cedric back in his place.' Smith put the rook on the board.


	15. Chapter 13 - Night Thoughts

**Author Notes** – Probably about the half way point now, so thanks to everyone for sticking with it so far. Hope you enjoy the chapter, please review if you want to.

**Rating** – T for language.

**Note – **I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that privilege belongs to JK Rowling.

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

_Night Thoughts_

'Happy anniversary,' said Cedric, planting a kiss on Harry's lips, and smiling at him.

Harry pulled a face. 'What are you talking about?' In reality, of course, he knew precisely what Cedric was referring to, but he always enjoyed annoying him whenever possible.

'Honestly. Look at me while I explain this to you very slowly. What happened three months today?' Cedric asked, as though he was speaking to a four year old.

'We had our first kiss and started going out,' replied Harry simply.

'So you do know what I'm talking about. Happy anniversary...?'

'Well, it's not an anniversary, is it?' said Harry, raising his eyebrows, and doing his best to adopt his poker face.

Cedric stared at him for a moment and then hit him lightly round the head with the textbook he was holding, and Harry couldn't help but start laughing. 'You're so easy to wind up,' Harry said, and Cedric flung himself down next to Harry on the sofa in the Prefects' Common Room. 'Happy anniversary,' Harry continued, and kissed him again.

'Thank you,' Cedric replied, grinning. 'Remind me again why I like you.'

'Because without me, your life would be so dull and meaningless that your natural seriousness would eventually drive you to insanity,' Harry said, completely deadpan.

'Ah, glad we cleared that up. But seriously though, three months. Who'd have thought it?'

Cedric was right about that, Harry thought. He could hardly believe that it was nearly the end of term, it had gone by so quickly. The last few months had been the happiest that Harry could remember. Not only in his personal life, where Ron and Hermione were getting on extremely well, both with each other and also with Cedric, but academically as well. Having Cedric around to help him with his work was an advantage, of course, but Snape's profound shift in character had shown no sign of abating, and Potions had become one of his best lessons. Several of his teachers had remarked on how impressed they were with him.

It had also been nearly two months since the appearance of the strange man in white, and since nothing terrible had happened, Harry could only assume that either there had never been anything suspicious going on at all, or that Dumbledore had swiftly discovered and put a stop to whatever it was.

Normally he would be looking forward to the Christmas holidays, it was a chance for a well-deserved rest and to spend some time with Ron and Hermione. But the thought of three weeks without Cedric around was unpleasant. He had been trying to drop subtle hints about how much he wanted his boyfriend to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays, but he had to keep reminding himself that Cedric had a family to go home to.

They had been sitting in silence for a minute or so, Cedric's arm wrapped around Harry, who had his head against the older boy's chest, when Cedric said suddenly, 'I've got some news.'

'Yes?' Harry asked, lifting his head off Cedric's chest and looking at him.

'I've managed to convince my parents to let me stay here over Christmas.' Harry's heart leapt with joy, but he tried not to show it on his face too much.

'That's great,' he said. 'Are you sure? I know how much they were looking forward to seeing you.' Wish I could say the same for my family, he added silently.

'Yep,' Cedric replied, smiling. 'I said that I needed to use the library for all my work.'

'Ah, no wonder that won them over. Always go down the swat route, it's just so appealing to concerned parents.' From the conversations they had, Harry had learned that Cedric's father had incredibly, almost unrealistically, high expectations for his only son, and it was nice to see Cedric using that pressure to his advantage for a change, normally it just meant he was stressed a lot of the time.

'Yeah. At least it means we get to spend lots of time together. I've already got something planned for Christmas Day to go with your presents.'

Harry noted the use of the plural, and remembered that he still needed to find something for Cedric, something that he would ask Hermione about as soon as possible. 'That's typically organised of you,' Harry said. 'What have you got planned?'

'I can't tell you that, it's a surprise. Honestly, you'll be wanting to know what your presents are next.' Harry raised his eyebrows again. 'And I'm not going to tell you that either,' Cedric added. 'Don't you like a surprise every now and again?'

'Oh yeah, I just love surprises,' Harry said sarcastically. 'You know, the kind where the face of the most evil dark wizard in the world is sticking out of the back of your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher's head.'

'All right, point taken. But this is a nice surprise, I promise. No evil dark wizards involved anywhere...probably.'

'Well that's...reassuring,' said Harry. 'I'm really glad you're staying here Cedric, this is going to be the best Christmas. I can't wait. And,' he added, suddenly having another thought. 'As they'll be so few other students around, you can probably spend some time in Gryffindor tower with me, Ron and Hermione.'

'I'd like that,' said Cedric, grinning. 'Although I'm not sure what some of my roommates would say if they found out I was spending time in another Common Room. And before you launch into a lecture about how great Gryffindor is, I should warn you that if you do, you will get no kisses for a week.'

Harry pulled a grumpy expression. 'Fine, I wasn't going to anyway.' There was a moment's silence. 'All right, maybe I was, but it's true.'

'Ah ah,' said Cedric, wagging his finger. 'I mean it.' Harry folded his arms and pressed his lips together in an exaggerated fashion. 'Good, seems you're trainable after all.'

They lost a few minutes after that to kissing. Although Harry enjoyed these sessions immensely, he was a little nervous about broaching the subject of what came after that. He had never even got the slightest suggestion from Cedric that he might want to take their relationship further, Cedric was just too nice to pressure Harry like that, but Harry knew that at some point it was a conversation they were going to have to have. Mainly because Cedric was so damn attractive, and Harry, like any other teenager, couldn't help but have some physical response whenever their kissing became heated.

They eventually broke apart, and Cedric sat back, looking as though he was deep in thought. 'What's up?' Harry asked casually.

'Mmm?' replied Cedric absent-mindedly. 'Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.'

'Come on,' said Harry. 'I've known you too long for all that, you always pull that expression when you're thinking about something important.'

'God, am I that readable?' Harry nodded and Cedric sighed. 'Well, it's just the letter from my parents got me thinking. It's great that they were OK with me staying here for the holidays, but I felt bad because I couldn't tell them the real reason why I wanted to stay here.' Harry felt suddenly worried, he had a nasty idea he knew where this was going. 'I've been thinking about it a lot recently,' Cedric continued. 'About...you know, telling my parents.'

'Are you sure?' Harry asked. 'I know we've talked about a little bit, but it doesn't sound like your Dad would be all that impressed.'

'I know that,' Cedric said. 'But the fact that he won't react well isn't a good enough reason to go on lying to them like this. It's not going to change anything just because they don't know about it.' There was some logic to that, Harry thought. But if he was being honest, there was an altogether different reason why he didn't want Cedric to tell his parents about him and Harry. 'How about you?' Cedric asked, and Harry looked at him.

'What about me?'

'Have you thought anymore about...you know, when you might come out?'

Harry was silent for a moment. Yes, if he was being honest, he had thought about it a lot. It scared him, the idea of everyone else in the wizarding world knowing about him. He wasn't just worried that some people might not accept him, he also wanted to protect himself, and Cedric, from the media knowing every detail of their relationship, which they would inevitably found out somehow. 'No,' he lied in the end. 'Haven't thought about it much.'

'It's something we're going to have to talk about at some point.'

'I know, just not now.' Harry knew he was stalling, that Cedric was right that they would have to talk about it, but he just didn't want to. They had successfully avoiding discussing the future thus far, and Harry didn't want to face it now. Cedric sighed, and sat back against the sofa, his expression unreadable. 'I'm sorry,' Harry added. 'I know this is tough for you.'

'It's tough for both of us Harry,' said Cedric. 'I don't think just running away is the answer.'

'Is that you think I'm doing?' Harry asked, finding himself suddenly feeling quite annoyed. 'It's not about running away Cedric, it's about doing what's best for us.'

'And what about if we don't agree on what's best for us,' Cedric said.

'Well, what is it that you want then? Every detail of our relationship splashed all over the Daily Prophet for everyone to read and laugh about?'

'Of course not,' replied Cedric, and his voice was rising a little now. 'But I also want to be able to walk down the castle corridor holding your hand, and not have to worry that people are going to spot us. Or have to pretend that we're not together whenever we see someone coming in the other direction.'

'Well, you can't have one without the other,' Harry bit back. 'If you want that then you should have gone out with someone else.' He knew that he was being harsh, but he felt angry now. Cedric of all people should understand the predicament he was in.

'How can you say that?' Cedric said. 'I should have thought all the effort I put in would have made it fairly clear that you were the one I wanted.'

'Unfortunately, being Harry Potter's boyfriend comes with a hell of a lot of baggage. I thought you got that, clearly I was wrong.'

'Of course I get that!' Cedric said loudly. 'But there are limits to how much you can hide away Harry, anyone would think you were ashamed to be seen with me.'

This was way over the line, Harry thought. 'Don't be so bloody stupid!' he shouted, getting to his feet. 'I can't believe you even suggested that!' He paused, his breathing coming heavily, his heart racing. 'We were having such a nice evening, and now look.'

Cedric also got to his feet. 'Well I'm sorry if I ruined your fun,' he said sarcastically, and Harry hated it when he spoke like that, it made Harry feel about six inches tall. 'I'm sorry if I'm worried about the future, about what's going to happen to us. But you seem content to just keep hiding away, pretending that it's not happening.'

'Oh fuck you Cedric,' Harry said in the end, and Cedric fell silent. At least that shut him up, Harry thought angrily. He stared at the older boy for a second and then made his way to the door. Just as he opened it to step through, he heard Cedric begin to say something, but he ignored it, walking quickly through the door and slamming it shut behind him.

* * *

When he got back to the Gryffindor Common Room, he found Hermione sitting alone at a table, writing what looked like an extremely long and complicated essay. He had calmed down a little bit now, but he was still annoyed at Cedric, mainly because he just didn't seem to understand how Harry was feeling, and that wasn't like him at all.

'Hi Harry,' said Hermione brightly, not looking up from her essay, as he sat down next to her. 'You're back earlier than usual.' There was a moment's pause as she finished her sentence and then she looked at him. 'What's up? You look dreadful. You haven't had an argument with Cedric have you?'

Harry, as always, was in awe of Hermione's ability to always know exactly what was going on, even before he had said a word. He nodded, and Hermione closed the book next to her, looking very concerned, and pushed her essay across the table away from them. 'Tell me what happened,' she said simply.

'Well,' said Harry, choosing his words carefully. He knew that Hermione would undoubtedly see both sides of the story. 'We were having a great evening, laughing and joking as we usually do.' She nodded, not taking her concerned eyes off him. 'Then Cedric mentioned that he was staying here over the Christmas holidays.'

'That's great news, isn't it?' cut in Hermione.

'Yeah, of course, I was ecstatic actually, the thought of three weeks without Cedric was driving me crazy.' He paused for a moment, thinking about what Dumbledore would say about young love. 'So anyway, that was great, but then he brought up that he felt bad because he had told his parents that he needed to stay to do work rather than the real reason.'

'Which was that he wanted to stay with you,' Hermione prompted, still looking at him.

'Right,' Harry replied. 'Anyway, we started having this whole conversation about coming out, both to his parents and then to the wider world. And I said I didn't want to think about it, and I think that annoyed him.'

'Well,' said Hermione slowly, and Harry could tell that she too was choosing her words carefully. 'It is something that you're going to have to think about it at some point.'

'I know, that's what Cedric said. Trust you to think like he does,' Harry said, although his tone was light-hearted and Hermione smiled. 'Anyway, then it just all descended into this argument about publicity and whether I was ashamed to be seen with him.'

'You didn't say that you would be ashamed to be seen with him did you?' cut in Hermione, looking stricken.

'Of course not,' said Harry. 'Although...perhaps, looking back, what I said might have implied that.' Hermione raised her eyebrows. 'But I swear I didn't mean it like that. You know what it's like, being me. Everything I do, someone has an opinion on it, and it invariably ends up in the newspaper. As I said to Cedric, I come with baggage.'

'Yes, as if Cedric didn't know that before he wanted to be with you.'

Harry couldn't help but smile at how similar Hermione and Cedric's minds worked. It really was, sometimes, as though Cedric was the male version of Hermione. 'Anyway, when he said I was ashamed to be seen with him, I sort of flew off the handle, and told him to...'

'Go fuck himself,' Hermione supplied helpfully.

'In so many words,' Harry replied. 'And then I stormed out.' He looked at her carefully, she still had the same concerned expression. 'What do you think?'

'Well, I could have seen it coming,' she said. 'Harry, you have to remember that Cedric is two and a half years older than you. He's already come out to large parts of the school, and so for him, the idea of having a boyfriend that he's totally crazy about and not being able to tell anyone must be driving him insane.'

Harry nodded. 'I suppose you're right. It's just the thought of exposing Cedric to the sort of attention he's going to get, and a lot of it isn't necessarily going to be good...'

'I'm sure he's thought about that himself Harry,' said Hermione. 'But I think he did go a little overboard with the comment about you being ashamed to be seen with him.'

'I'm really not,' Harry insisted. 'I would love to be able to walk down the castle corridors holding his hand in full view of everyone. I just don't think I'm ready yet.'

'Well, if you explain that to him like you just have to me, I'm sure he'll understand. If I know Cedric, he's probably feeling terrible about what he said, and you should talk to him as soon as possible. There's nothing worse than letting something like this drag out, because then it's harder to repair the damage.'

The voice of sanity had spoke once again. Harry nodded and Hermione smiled. 'Well I'm glad we've got that sorted,' she said matter-of-factly. She looked over at the clock on the mantelpiece. 'Blimey, is that the time already?' She opened the textbook once more and began to read intently.

'Great,' said Harry, thinking that it would probably be best not to disturb anymore. 'Erm...thanks Hermione, you're brilliant.'

'I know,' she replied, not looking up from her essay.

Harry looked round the Common Room. There were only a few people in there; Fred and George were talking quietly in the corner of the room, and kept looking round nervously to check that no one could hear them. I know what that's like, Harry thought. He spotted Seamus and Dean playing Exploding Snap at another table. 'Where's Ron?' asked Harry.

Hermione looked up at him. 'Well...' she said, and Harry was surprised to see that she seemed to be suppressing a giggle. 'You know in Potions the other day when Snape asked him to stay behind after the lesson.'

'Yes...' said Harry slowly, thinking back. It had happened on Wednesday, just as they were clearing away all their things, and Ron had looked terrified by the very prospect of having to be alone with the incredibly cheerful Snape.

'Well, he told me after, when you were out with Cedric, that Snape had said he was concerned about Ron's lack of progress.' Harry smirked at that, remembering that Ron had accidentally set his cauldron alight in the lesson. 'And that Snape thought it would be best for him to have extra lessons in the evening.'

Harry laughed. 'Bloody hell, there's a lot of that going round at the moment. First my lessons with Moody and now Ron. You're not having any are you?' She raised her eyebrows at him. 'Of course not,' he added quickly. 'Silly of me to even suggest such a thing.'

'Thank you,' she said. 'Actually, he should be back any moment.'

As if right on cue, at that moment the portrait hole swung open and Ron appeared, looking as though he might be sick any second. 'That man is just ridiculous,' he said, as he slumped in the chair next to Harry, and knocked Hermione's essay to the ground. She pursed her lips but didn't say anything as she bent down and picked it up again.

'What's wrong?' asked Harry in mock seriousness. 'I thought you loved spending time with Snape. He's just so affable.'

'That's exactly the problem!' Ron burst out. 'He's too bloody affable! And the worst thing is, he told me the potion I made was perfect!'

'What's wrong with that?' asked Hermione, shaking her head and looking desperate.

'Because now it's convinced him that these lessons are really good for me. Any other teacher would decide that actually they weren't necessary, but Snape said that as we were having so much fun, we should continue.' Ron put his head on the table and didn't move.

'Ah, it'll be fine,' said Harry. 'At least you're not having remedial lessons with horrible Snape, that would just be torture. Although,' he added slowly. 'This sounds pretty much like torture already.'

'I don't get you two,' said Hermione, looking at them both. 'We all hated Snape for the last three years and now he undergoes a mysterious and seemingly permanent change of character and you still hate him.'

'Exactly,' said Ron, lifting his head from the desk. 'At least with horrible Snape you know where you stand. And there is such a thing as being too nice, and Snape has gone too far.'

'Teenage boy logic,' muttered Hermione. 'Well, as much as I'd love to sit here all night discussing whether Snape was better when he was vindictive and putting us all in detention, but I'm going to bed.' She rolled up her parchment and picked up her textbook. 'And Harry, don't forget what I said.'

'I won't,' Harry said quickly. Hermione smiled, waved to them both, and then made her way up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

Ron looked at him. 'What did she mean by that?'

Harry sighed, resigned to having to explain the whole story again.

* * *

Harry slept badly that night. He kept going over and over in his head the argument that they had had with Cedric, and the moment when he had stormed out. He felt bad, and he knew that Hermione was right, but he was also worried that Cedric would still be angry, and wouldn't be able to see where Harry was coming from. Ever since he had got together with Cedric, he had slept better than he had his entire life, but the next morning, he woke up feeling more exhausted than he had in a long time.

Cedric wasn't at breakfast, and this worried Harry. It wasn't like Cedric to miss breakfast, he considered it far too important. Hermione noticed his worried expression. 'I'm sure you'll see him later Harry. If he's slept as badly as you look like you have, I'm not surprised he's not made an appearance.'

He didn't see Cedric at all during the day, despite rushing back to the Entrance Hall every break time in the hope that he would bump into the older boy, and by the time they got back to the Great Hall for dinner, he was beginning to feel deeply despondent. Perhaps Cedric was still angry with him, and even worse, didn't want to talk to him.

He picked at his food without much enthusiasm, and just as he was considering leaving the table, he noticed Hedwig flying towards him, a small note clasped in her beak. His spirits lifted immediately as she landed on his shoulder, and he took the small fragment of parchment from her, and began to read.

_Harry,_

_Please meet me by the Hufflepuff Common Room after dinner. I'm really sorry about all this._

_Cedric xxx_

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, the apology and the kisses were at least a positive sign. He handed the note to Hermione who glanced at it, and smiled. 'There you are, nothing to worry about. I'm sure you'll have this sorted out and everything back to normal soon.'

When they had finished eating, Harry having suddenly rediscovered his appetite, he said goodbye to Ron and Hermione on the Grand Staircase and made his way down the corridor that led to the Hufflepuff Common Room, which Cedric had told him had a secret entrance located next to the door that led to the kitchens.

He quickly located the stack of barrels and waited there, hoping that Cedric wouldn't be too long, he didn't want to be seen loitering outside another House's dormitories by too many people. He killed time by examining the barrels closely, wondering what you might possibly have to do in order to gain access. There was nothing particularly obvious. Absent-mindedly, he leaned against the barrels.

What happened next he had certainly not been expecting. The moment he came into contact with the nearest barrel, there was a gushing sound, and he was squirted with a heavy jet of what smelled like a particularly foul brand of vinegar, drenching him. Spluttering, he wiped his eyes, trying to avoid getting any of the liquid in them, and stared at a small hole and a nozzle that had appeared in the side of one of the barrels.

He stepped backwards just as the barrels began to move, revealing a hole in the wall, and clambering through to meet him was Cedric. Great, Harry thought, I need to have a serious conversation and I smell like I've just spent five years in a chip shop. Cedric wrinkled his nose as he climbed out of the passageway, and then looked at Harry.

'Bloody hell,' he said. 'What happened...you didn't try to get into the Common Room did you?'

'No,' said Harry earnestly. 'All I did was lean against one of the barrels. Honestly, have you heard of taking paranoia too far?'

'It's a very sensible defence mechanism,' said Cedric, reaching into his robes and taking his wand out. '_Evanesco._' The vinegar vanished instantly, but Harry was fairly sure he could still detect the smell. 'Believe me, I wish I'd known that spell when that happened to me in first year, it would have saved a lot of time and embarrassment.'

'Thanks,' said Harry, and he was pleased to see that Cedric was smiling. 'Where do you want to go to talk, the usual place?'

'No,' said Cedric quickly. 'It's being used this evening. I've got another idea.'

He led Harry to the fifth floor, carefully avoiding anyone who might have spotted them. They came to a stop outside the Prefects' bathroom. 'This is where you and Oliver went,' said Harry, looking at the door nervously.

'Yeah,' replied Cedric. 'Oh don't worry, I'm not expecting anything like that to happen. It's just somewhere I know we won't be disturbed.' Cedric said the password and the door swung open. They went inside, Cedric locking the door behind them.

The bathroom looked just as Cedric had described it, right down to the painting of the mermaid on the far wall. The swimming pool that sunk into the floor was vast, and was surrounded by dozens of golden taps. Harry resisted the urge to go and start playing with them, but Cedric seemed to guess what he was thinking. 'Have a go,' he said encouragingly. 'You'll probably want to wash your face after the experience with the vinegar.'

Harry smiled, and started going round the bathroom, turning the taps on and off, discovering what each one did. When he had finished, he knelt down and splashed a liberal amount of water on his face, some of it running down the inside of his robes. 'That's better,' he said as he grabbed one of the towels from the corner of the room and dried his face.

'I love it here,' said Cedric, looking around the room fondly. 'Although,' he added, and he paused to stare at the mermaid, who was making extremely suggestive facial expressions at him. 'I'm fairly convinced that she fancies me.'

'Of course she does,' Harry responded quickly. 'Who wouldn't?' Cedric grinned, and bent down to kiss Harry. That made him feel a lot better. 'Shall we talk?'

'An excellent suggestion,' replied Cedric, and before Harry could do anything, Cedric had removed his robes, revealing his Muggle clothing underneath. He hitched up the legs of his trousers and sat down on the edge of the bath with the bottom half of his legs dangling in the water. 'Care to join me?' Harry grinned, and did the same. The water felt lovely and warm, and Harry found himself relaxing for the first time that day.

They both started to speak at the same time, and then stopped. Cedric smiled. 'Me first,' he said, and Harry nodded. 'I'm really sorry about what I said Harry. I stepped way over the line when I asked if you were ashamed to be seen with me. Of course you're not, and I know that.'

Harry nodded. 'I know why you said it. I'm sorry too, I was...I don't know, I was just afraid I guess. I hope you can see why.'

'Of course, it's a lot more difficult for you than it is for me, I get that. I don't want to pressure you into anything. It's just when I got that letter from my parents, I started to think about things. About what we're going to do in the future. We've been together three months now Harry, and I think we'll both agree we're not planning to ending it any time soon.'

'Absolutely not,' said Harry quickly. 'You're the best thing that's ever happened to me.'

'And you to me,' added Cedric. 'Because actually, I've spent the whole day thinking, and I know now that it doesn't matter to me whether everyone knows we're together, it only matters that we know we are.'

Harry smiled. 'You're right, but that doesn't mean that we're never going to be open about it. Trust me when I say that.'

'I do,' said Cedric, and they kissed again.

They sat in silence for some time, Cedric had his head on Harry's chest and was listening to the sound of his heart beating, while Harry was amusing himself watching the mermaid who was looking extremely disgruntled about their displays of affection.

'We'd better get going,' said Cedric in the end, and Harry sighed as they both stood up, dried their legs and put their robes back on. 'I'm glad we've sorted this out Harry. I mean what I said you know, no pressure whatsoever.'

'And I meant what I said, it's only a matter of time. Just be patient with me, I'll get there.'

They walked back to Gryffindor tower. It was just past curfew so they were careful to avoid any teachers, but the corridors were empty. They said goodbye at the portrait of the Fat Lady, and Cedric made his way back down the staircase.

'Password?' said the Fat Lady, looking at him with a grin.

'Banana fritters,' Harry said absent-mindedly, and then he noticed her expression. 'Before you open up, how much have you seen while pretending to be asleep?'

'Many things dear,' she said, with a knowing wink. 'But don't worry, I've kept far bigger secrets than yours before. You can rely on me.'

'Thanks,' said Harry warily, before making his way through the portrait hole and into the Common Room. Ron and Hermione were waiting for him.

'So, how did it go?' Hermione asked before he had said a word. 'Did you sort it all out?'

Harry nodded, and Hermione smiled. Ron breathed a huge sigh of relief and patted Harry on the shoulder. 'Good to hear it mate,' he said encouragingly. 'Mind you, a few more days of you in a bad mood and I'd have probably sorted it out myself.'

'Now that would have been something to see,' said Harry with a grin. He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, the lack of sleep was finally beginning to get to him. 'Can't tell you how I glad I am it's nearly the end of term.' He then remembered something important. 'Which reminds me. Hermione, I need your help.'

'Not again, I should start charging for this you know,' she replied.

'Ha, ha, you love being the one that everyone goes to for advice anyway,' he said and she smiled. 'Next Saturday, you and I are going into Hogsmeade, because I need to find a Christmas present for Cedric, and I have no earthly idea what to get him.'

'Done,' said Hermione. 'Anything that will help you two be a little less clueless when it comes to relationships and emotions, I'm happy to help.'

'You know, if it wasn't said so eloquently, I'd be likely to think that you were insulting us.'

'Now would I do that?' said Hermione, returning to her essay.


End file.
